When Did You Stop Calling Me Dad?
by han07
Summary: Chris is watching himself fall and he doesn't know how to pick up the pieces. A reluctant Leo shows him how. previously known as Sometimes grief and Anger are the same thing. I decided I hated that name so.. here we are. Revelation fic.
1. Chapter 1

HI!

Re- worked and slightly altered. Some recent reviews and favourites have made me feel _extremely _guilty for letting this story go so I promise I shall finish!

I know its been a while but there will be progress! Life decided to toy with me for a while but I promise a happy ending soon=D

For those new to the story it is a Chris revelation fic. I love the Chris/Leo dynamic and wanted to see more so.. here we go.

_XxX_

_14 year old Christopher Perry sat on the support beams of his favourite haunt, staring down at the city. He was watching people go around their lives, watching them smile and laugh like the world was still the same place. _

_He wanted to a part of their world. The one that let them smile. The one where demons were a fairytale and people died of old age. Right now, all he wanted was that world._

'Chris!'

22-year-old Chris shot up of his sleeping position as his weak muscles sent him down almost immediately_. _He winced as he remembered last night's demon hunt and the bruises it had left him. He shook his head, images from his recurring memory playing in his mind.

'Chris Perry get down to the manor _now._'

Chris could feel the anger reverberate around his head as Piper called for him again. He sighed and threw his legs over the side of the couch he slept on and prepared to orb...

Xx

_3 hours earlier at the manor..._

Phoebe sat at the kitchen table, absentmindedly pulling at her hair. She barely glanced up at the sound of orbs metres away. She continued to stare at nothing as the orbs formed in to Leo.

"Phoebe?" he said.

She did look up at him then, allowing her frustration to crawl across her face. She sighed.

"I'm thinking about Chris," she said.

Leo had expected this. It had been two days since the whitelighter had dropped a bombshell on them all and decided that disappearing minutes after returning from the future was his best bet. It was why Leo had visited more in the past two days than he had in the past two months. He wanted to know just as badly as the sisters.

"You know, that was the first time I could _really_ feel since we met him," Phoebe said again.

"My powers have picked up pretty much everyone, but never him," She gave a half smile.

'I didn't know who I was even sensing for a little bit. His barriers are so strong.' She paused.

I never really expected to even be _able_ to sense him. It was..' She paused there again, like she was reaching for the right words.

'It was sad Leo. Sad and angry. But he loved her.' She opened her mouth to speak again and paused, not sure how to explain what she had felt.

"Phoebe," Leo implored. "He has obviously lost a lot. I would expect him to be grieving, but he made it clear he doesn't want help."

"I know Leo, but people who grieve normally have _something_. He doesn't. His fiancé just betrayed him, might possibly be dead and he's got no one to turn to because we're all too busy obsessing over what he didn't tell us!"

"Phoebe, it is sad but it doesn't change his actions' Leo implored.

"We don't know who he is or what he wants and he hasn't given us a lot to trust him on." he reasoned.

'I know that Leo.' She breathed out her frustration. 'But I sensed him after he came back, and all I wanted to do was _die_. All I wanted was to crawl into a hole and never see anyone ever again.

"I'm an empath, I can't just walk away from that kind of feeling."

She rubbed her brow in frustration as she stood and sighed. 'I help perfect strangers for a living, Leo. Why the hell shouldn't I be able to help our whitelighter.'

She stopped and took a breath.

'And.. he's a kid Leo. I thought he just looked younger than he was because he was a whitelighter. He's a kid whose life clearly sucks and who is completely alone and I've got this nagging feeling like I should be protecting him, like _we_ should be protecting him."

She sat down in a huff, and put her head back in her hands.

'Leo, I don't know what to do. I don't trust him and feel guilty for it, and I feel like I kicked the family pet. I'm kind of grateful for the barriers he puts up. And then I feel guilty about that.' Her voice was high and fast, raising at each sentence.

Leo looked at Phoebe sympathetically. He didn't trust Chris, but he did feel guilty for leaving him out in the cold, so to speak. Their kind was supposed to help people, he told himself. He was a force of good. He was a whitelighter practically _abandoned_ another whitelighter. People like Leo didn't do that. They weren't supposed to do that anyway.

Leo sighed. He was an elder now. Be damned if this kid didn't want help, Leo was going to offer it anyway.

He smiled gently at Phoebe. He seriously doubted Chris would be receptive to anything. But he knew she would try anyway.

XxX


	2. Chapter 2

These first few chapters are relatively short. Obviously, they were my early work. Please stick with it and I promise it gets both longer and better.

Xx

Leo's words played over and over again in Phoebe's mind, reassuring her and worrying her all at the same time.

Out of the four of them, she was the one who most trusted Chris, and she barely believed the things he said. He was this stranger, all of a sudden in their lives and changing them.

It had almost been a shock to see Chris attached and in love with another person. Well, a demon. He was so cool all the time. It was all about the work for him.

Yet, after the events of the last few days, she began to understand the secrecy and the 'future consequences'. Once he had been forced to let go of those emotional barriers, Phoebe had felt more from him than ever. She didn't know why he was so determined, but she could and did guess and the cause of anger.

She contemplated to herself. He doesn't tell us anything because he's so used to keeping everything to himself, she thought.

Phoebe sat there in silence, thinking hard on the young witchlighter that was causing so many problems. She only looked up as Piper slapped her coffee cup onto the table close to her.

An obviously frustrated Piper glanced over her sister's face, and tried to tone down her own angry facade as she noticed the "empath" look.

"Something on your mind?' she quietly ventured to Phoebe.

Phoebe looked up at her older sister, wondering at how she would react. Piper had made no secret of her distrust for Chris, primarily because of Wyatt.

'Do you remember when Prue died, how angry we were. You, especially?' She continued despite Piper's glance.

"Can you imagine how much worse it would have been if we didn't have anyone else to turn to? You would be in the underworld right now for one. I think eventually, it would have destroyed you. It almost did."

Piper looked down, an almost defiant look across her face. She could draw her own conclusions about where this conversation was headed.

'Ok. Yea, it probably would have. I _was_ angry. Mostly though, I was just trying to find an outlet for the grief. In my case, the grief and the anger were the same thing.' Piper met her sister's eyes and sighed. 'But, I somehow don't think conversation is about me, is it?

Xx

Piper had sat down to hear Phoebe out after that, sensing that she needed an outlet for her thoughts. She was listening to Phoebe explain what she had sensed of Chris and she felt for the whitelighter despite herself.

"I know he hasn't exactly endeared himself, but I don't think that should matter right now. If we really are the good ones, then shouldn't we be there when one something like this happens? If we can do it for a stranger, we should be able to do it for a whiteli-"

Phoebe had stopped there, as both sisters whipped their heads to the sunroom at the sound of crashes.

They leapt out of their seats and ran towards the next room. They reached the door way to find a demon, bleeding from a head wound, blowing up pieces of furniture.

The demons eyes snapped up to meet their own as the two sisters were joined by Paige and Leo. 'Tell your whitelighter to back off.' he growled at the sisters. ' Or we'll start killing _his_ family.' the demon warned.

'Tell him yourself.' Paige yelled at the demon, gesturing to Piper to blow him up. She gladly obliged. The four of them glanced at each other before Leo spoke for all of them.

'What exactly did he mean, and what exactly has Chris been doing?' he asked...


	3. Chapter 3

Italics are future Chris after "the event"

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

_Chris watched a kid his own age chase after a run away soccer ball. The kid's brother chased after him, trying to get to the ball first, as the mother and father watched on. _

_Chris tried to remember the last time his family had had that much fun. He sighed. He couldn't think of any in the last year, and he mused on the fact that it wouldn't happen at all now.. He felt a tear run down the side of his cheek, and he shifted on top of the red support beams._

_'Chris, you should be at the manor.'_

_Chris turned, starlted at the new sound. He scowled when he realised who his visitor was._

_'It was just so much fun there Leo, had to get some air.' he said sarcastically._

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

'What were you thinking?! Were you even thinking?'

Chris silently listened to the latest round of verbal assaults. He sighed and wished he had the sense not to listen to their call. He had orbed into the manor expecting another demon, instead finding himself facing an angry Piper and Paige, and an oddly silent Pheobe.

His face grew vacant and his shoulders slumped as the barrage kept coming. He stepped back from Piper a little and tried to argue his case.

'Piper, I didn-'

'NO. Piper yelled at him. She paused, trying hard to stay calm. 'Just no. No more excuses, no more future consequences, no more doomsday predictions about each and every demon that ever existed!' she snapped, letting out every frustation that she had allowed to build up against him. 'I don't want to hear it.' she exhaled.

'Piper, what the am I supposed to do.' Chris raised his voice. ' Telling you_ anything_ goes agains't every law of magic there is. I have to be careful and you know it.

And I'm pretty sure you don't want to hear it anyway.' He had whispered that last part, knowing what reaction he was likely to get if they knew the truth.

Piper blew up a vase at his words, anger building up. 'I dont care about careful!' She screamed.

She thought about the latest demon attack and stepped closer to Chris. 'That isnt what I am thinking about when demons are trying to kill us because of you being _careful.' _she stated blatantly at him, voice laced with venom. 'You want us to save a future, fine.' she stated. 'But we cant save something when we don't know what were supposed to save it _from.'_ She looked up at him and fell silent, having said everything and having no way left to vent her frustations. She was shaking with anger, and huffed over ot the couch, as far away from the whitelighter as the room allowed.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Everytime Piper yelled, Chris could feel his heart constrict. He looked at her hair fly around her face, the way it always did when she was angry, and he watched as her eyes shone with anger. All he could feel was this ache in the pit of his stomach. He knew this was a Piper, but it wasn't _his_ Piper . This woman wasn't the Piper he knew and wouldn't be for a while yet. He knew that. But that still didn't stop the ache. This woman wasn't his mother, but it still dragged up the memories that he would rather forget.

He thought of the memories this place kept dragging up, and the knot in his stomach doubled itself. Last night he had watched her die again. He had seen her take her last breath over and over again through the night and now that same dying woman was tearing his resolve to shreds. He breathed in and out slowly, trying to control his anger. He sunk into himself as he tried to distant the two different Piper's in his mind. All he wanted to do was orb out and never see these woman again. He wanted to pound the wall, smash things and express every last feeling and memory that he had been supressing for the last month. He had hope before. He had someone to love, and someone to love him back. He had a reason to save the future. But now he had nothing but the faint hope of preventing all of this. All he wanted to do was to scream.

But he couldn't. Not at the woman who had loved him for years. Not at the beautiful hunter who had given her life for him. Not at the aunts who had doted on him for 2 decades. So he stood there and let her yell, because he couldn't hate her for protecting her family. He couldn't do it.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Chris had shrunk further into himself as Piper vented, stepping back towards the entrance to the kitchen. Phoebe watched as Chris's face fell. She watched as he steeled himself against them and she felt her heart ache a little. 'Leo..' she pleaded to the elder standing next to her. Leo looked at her and gave her a half smile. He stepped forward and spread his hands, trying to ease the tension that had built up among the five of them in the last twenty minutes.

'Chris, we want to help you. I want nothing more than to help you save our son, and your future. But the sisters cant just up and fight every time you say so.' he reasoned. 'I know how you feel, but you're life can't be spent fighting. They, us, have done enough of that already.' he said, willing Chris to see his side. 'The sisters have lost a lot, and I dare say so have you. They deserve to have a life, move out, be independent right now, dont you think?' he smiled hopefully at Chris. He was trying hard to make the kid see it his way, to stay calm.

Chris had been quiet since he had been called here. Leo could count the number of words he had said on two hands. He hadn't expected much of a response, but when Leo paused, he saw Chris whip his head up. He could see a look of anger and frustation flash across Chris's face as he suddenly charged forward.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Chris whipped his head up at that statement and growled. His eyes met those of the man trying to connect with him, and he snapped. This man had never loved him, not like Piper had.

This man hadn't lost anything, not yet. For that fact, neither had the women standing infront of him. His only thought for days had been those last moments with Bianca. All that was running through his mind since then had been her, them, and the future that he had been trying so hard to save because _she _was there. And here was Leo, of all people, trying to comfort him into doing nothing. Here was _Leo _telling him that they knew how he felt.

They didn't know. They couldn't know. They would die before they ever had the chance. His heart was screaming at him, constricting him. Yelling at him, galling him because of the man standing in front of him, after he lost the most important person in his life and telling him that _he understood._ He felt sick. He felt like he was fourteen all over again and his daddy was patting his shoulder. He felt flashes of another memory go past his eyes. He remembered another conversation like this, and he remembered that _Leo thought he understood._

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Leo stepped back as he saw emotion galvanise Chris into finally giving them a reaction. He rammed Leo's shoulder into the nearby wall and scowled. 'Loss!' he scowled. 'None of you have lost anything!' he yelled.' You cant tell me that you know how I feel, because none of you have a damn clue.' he continued to spit out at Leo. 'None of you have ever lost _anything._' he stated again , voice dripping with menace. 'Don't pretend like you know me Leo!. Now or in the future!' he screamed, emotions tearing at his mind. His face paled as his eyes became glazed, as though he was thinking of a different time, and a different fight..

The sisters had jumped up as Chris had moved, and were now at a stand still, shocked by Chris's reaction. Piper opened her mouth to say something- anything- to calm Chris but he saw her move and turned his eyes to meet hers. He looked at all three of them and settled back on Piper, keeping his arm pressed firmly agaisnt a silent Leo. 'When the very last person that you have left dies in front of you, then maybe we'll have this conversation again.' He said quietly, menace replaced by a simmering anger. He eased his arm off Leo and stepped back, preparing to orb out. 'When the person that you risk everything for tries their damn _best _to destroy you, then you can tell me what I should have told you.' he whispered to the four shocked faces around him, just before orbing out, body shaking with anger...

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Chris orbed into the office of P3 and collapsed onto his knees, frustation radiating through his body. He screwed his eyes closed and bunched his hands into his face. _'Don't pretend like you know me Leo!' _he screamed the words over and over again in his head, knowing they werent really meant for the Leo he had left at the manor.

Those words were meant for a different Leo, and a different time. He remembered screaming them, on that bridge, in those months that he had lost everything. He had thought he had moved on from those months, but now he was losing everything all over again, and reliving those same emotions again and again. He didnt think it was possible to relive the worst moment of your life over again, but the last week had proved that it was completely possible, and just as painful as the first time. And now the new fight was dragging him back into those memories..

_14 year old Chris spun, jumping off the support beams of the bridge and landing metres away from his father. 'What do you want Leo?' he scowled._

_Leo looked his son up and down, taking in the sallow eyes and shaking body, and he felt his heart constrict. He stepped forward and stretched his hand out to Chris, wanting to comfort him. But he paused as Chris leaned back agaisnt the unexpected contact. Leo could feel his heart strings being pulled apart, but he still put his hand on Chris's shoulder. He had lost enough this week. He didn't want to lose his son as well._

_'We need to stick together for now Chris. We all need each other.' Leo said _

_'Chris's face contorted with anger. 'We needed you when Mom was alive, too, but it didn't seem to matter then.' he stated, voice full of anger. _

_Leo felt a wall of guilt and grief slam into him at his son's words. He knew he hadn't been there like he should have, and now he was paying the price..'I know I wasn't there Chris, but I still loved you. All of you, and I wish I had of been there.' Leo willed Chris. He remembered years ago, when Piper had lost her sister. He remembered how every frustation she had harboured over the years had culminated at Prue's death, and he willed his son to take a different path. Chris and Piper had been so much alike, and he didn't want his son to confuse his anger and his grief. Leo had seen what that could do to people.._

_'I know how you feel Chr-.'_

_Chris had been simmering at Leo's side, content simply to say nothing until that statement._

_But at those words, he exploded. 'Know me? You dont know any of us, Dad! You had 14 years for that chance and you didn't take it, so don't think you can now.' Chris screamed at his father, letting his grief out the only way he knew how._

_'Don't pretend like you know me Leo!'_

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Chris shot open his eyes, still kneeling on the floor. He groaned, and willed every memory, every emotion to go away. He wanted so badly to give up. He had nothing left to even fight for. Nothing but Wyatt. And he had more than proven that he didn't want to be saved. Chris felt his eyes grow moist as he collapsed onto the makeshift bed. He was injured, grieving and angry. For tonight, he had given up. For the moment, Christopher Perry was done...

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

eek... It was so hard to write! So tell me if you like:D Or where you would like it to go.


	4. Chapter 4

Hi again:) Hope you like this extra long chapter..

Warning; not much plot develpoment, but lots of angsty Chris moments. Mostly Chris and Pheobe. Review, pretty please:)

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Piper slammed the pantry door as she brang out the spices. Her hands shook as the grasped the bottle tightly. She placed the bottle on the table, and layed her palms flat, trying to regain some control.

She had been the first one to move after Chris had orbed out. She had looked around at the faces of her family, and felt a wave of guilt slam into her.

She pondered on it for mere moments before the guilt was replaced by rage. Rage _at _Chris, _for _Chris, or simply about the whole situation, she didn't know, but she had been rocketing between the two emotions for hours.

So she had retreated to the kitchen.

Atleast here, she knew every nuance and flaw. Here, she had control. She knew where she stood, and that was at the top.

So for now, she cooked. She cooked, washed dishes and tried to empty her mind of every debilitating thought that was trying to take over. On the surface she was angry. Angry at Chris, for throwing more curveballs and secrets their way, and angry at the world for creating this mess. But under that, she was angry at herself. Despite the way she felt, she had heard his words and understood. They.. she, had made a mess of things. They had resisted every battle he wanted to fight, and every warning he had uttered to them. They didn't believe him, not entirely. They fought the demons, and they searched for this evil, but they had never completely believed him. Their minds wouldn't believe that his future - their future- would be so bad.

.

She could sense the others staying away from her. She was slamming things, making loud bangs and yelling at the oven. They thought she was angry about how the confrontation had ended. And she was, but for a completely different reason then what they had assumed.

She wasn't angry because of what Chris had said. She was angry because he had every right to say it. This time, Piper and Chris had swapped places, and it was Chris defending everything he loved agains't people who didn't understand. But Piper didn't like being the one on the other end, and she was raging because Chris was _right._ Piper _hated _that. She hated being the person locked out and mistrusted. She hated feeling like she was on the bad side, when she wasn't and she knew it. Most of all, she hated the fact that she had done it. _She _had forced Chris into the same position she was in now, and she had done it for months. She felt sick.

She slammed down a cooking bowl, reeling from frustation. She set her mouth in a determined frown, as she kept on cooking. She had no idea what else she could do...

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Pheobe was walking from one end of her bedroom to the other, carefully placing each foot in front of the last. Her mind was racing, and her empath abilities were on overdrive.

She had felt him for a second time that day. The entire time that she had known him, today was only the second time that she had felt him, and it had been as painful as the first.

She had recoiled from the waves of frustation and rage that rolled off him. She saw flashes of memory and a fierce sense of protectiveness. It had left her more shell shocked than any of what he had said.

Her heart ached for the young witchlighter. Each time that she had felt him, she had felt pieces. She had felt a thousand tiny little cracks beneath the tough facade. She paused where she stood, contemplating how much pure anger had been radiating off him.

She had noticed a few other things. She saw how he wilted to one side, leaning all his weight onto one leg. She noted that his hand kept ghosting agains't his ribs, and that his collar was kept determinantly up, possibly hiding bruises. She took in his shallow breaths, and scraped hands.

She felt torn between yelling at him and sending him to bed. She had stood there while Piper yelled, debating between telling Leo to heal him, or letting him stand there injured for being such a stubborn _ass. _

The thing that bothered her the most, was that they still had no answer about their little visitor. A bleeding and bloody demon telling him to back down meant only one thing to her.

'Demon hunting.'she whispered.

'Bloody, grief fuelled, solitiary demon hunting that was all about hurting as many of them as he could_._' a voice in the back of her mind whispered.

_'When the person you have left dies infront of you..'_

His words played around Pheobe's head. His emotions had slammed into her, and she had been left reeling and misty eyed. She stopped in her tracks. Someone has to be there for him, she thought.

Someone has to be standing there when he falls, or he might never get back up.

She grabbed a jacket and hurried hrself down the stairs. She glanced up at the bangs coming from the kitchen, pausing only slightly before racing out the front door. She was determined that Chris wouldn't be alone. She was supposed to freakin' help people, damn it.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Chris rolled out of bed and almost sprinted to the nearest sink. He turned the tap on and splashed water over his face, breathing ragged and fast. He glanced up at the mirror for the umpteenth time that night. He looked at the clock and groaned. He had been sleeping fitfully for three hours, dreams coming and going. Some were just normal dreams, with vague details that he couldn't really remember. But for the majority, they were flashes of his family, and his broken future. He heard yelling, screams and explosions, rocketing awake each time.

Each time that he rolled into an awake state, his injuries caused him to wince. He was bruised and battered, and his head felt like a drilling site. He screwed his eyes shut to ward of the pain, and groped for the aspirin bottle. He gulped four down and stumbled back to the couch, resting his head in his hands. His body was shaking, and the couch beneath him was pulsating in his vision. He gripped it's edges to quell the naseau that was rising in his throat.

As his knuckles turned white, he felt his thoughts pull him into the present. He was torn. He was glad he had yelled, glad he had vented, but his worry had increased tenfold when he had woken the first time.

How could he save Wyatt now? Did he even want to save Wyatt now? These and a hundred other questions swarmed through his brain, overloading him.

He knew what he wanted to do. Right now he wanted nothing more than to give up, run away from all of this and never think about it again. He wanted someone else to stand in and fix it, and he wanted it to happen before this all killed him.

He sighed. He knew that solution wasn't possible, but he could still dream. He could dream of when he was the kid. Of when he still had his family to turn to, and when he wasn't the one making the tough decisions.

He wanted to scream. He had screamed, hours ago. When he had glanced up at that mirror for the third time, he had screamed and thrown things. He had slammed his fists into the walls and felt tears of anger well up.

He had dreamt of his family that time. That time, he had seen them die again and it had toughened him. He looked back on their faces, and he knew he wasn't going to give up.

If he gave up, there would be no one to step in. There would be no one to turn to because they would still be dead. He had made a promise to them and to Wyatt that he would save them.

So he wouldn't give up.

But that didn't stop the slight well of tears that tore at him. It didn't stop the pain rattling through is chest. He thread his hands through his hair and swore under his breath. He stayed in that position even as he heard a knock on the door. He breathed in a long, rattling breath. He knew who it would be. He knew what they would want, and he swore again.

It was still early enough to be dark, and he wondered why the sisters couldn't wait till sunrise at least, to attack his resolve again. He looked up as he heard a soft knock again. It can't be Piper, he reasoned. 'The door would be off it's hinges by now.' he laughed silently to himself.

'Chris?' he heard Pheobe call softly.

He kept his eyes on the door and he sighed. He pulled himself up, and paused. He knew he had to answer. He wouldn't be able to save anyone without their help. So he set his jaw, ran his hands through his hair, and turned the doorknob.

He wrenched the door open, and glared at the woman standing in front of it.

'Yea?' his voice came out in a gravely rasp.

Phoebe opened and closed her mouth, not knowing what to say. She had come here without a plan, and without knowing what she was going to say when he opened the door.

So she said hello.

'Hi, Chris.' She smiled at him. 'Mind if I come in?' she ventured, hoping he would let her.

He looked at her for a long moment, face clouded with suspicion.

'I'm not going to get interrogated, and I'm not apologizing.' he stated, assuming why she was here.

She sighed. She had known he would think that. 'I'm not here to interrogate you, and I don't think you should apologize. I just want to talk.' she stated back at him calmly.

His face didn't lose the cloud of suspicion, but he slowly moved aside. Phoebe smiled internally and brushed past him, into the small room. She walked to the middle and turned around, as Chris closed the door.

He collapsed his frame onto the couch and stared at her. 'What is it, Pheobe?' he said shortly, distrust written across his face.

She noticed his hand brush up against his ribs, and his shallow breaths. His hand had scrapes across the knuckles, some that had re-opened.

She covered the ground between him and her in three strides, grabbing one of his wrists.

'You went hunting in the Underworld by yourself, didn't you?' she said, as he grabbed band aids from her hand bag, and covered the wounds on his hand. She ignored him as he spluttered his objections.

'You must have, because I can't think of any other reason why the demon would have threatened us like that.' she reasoned calmly again, as she grabbed his other hand and did the same.

She sat next to him on the couch and looked at him. He still offered no response. She sighed.

'You know, when our sister died, it was really difficult to see the good things we had left.' she ventured to him. 'All we could concentrate on was all the bad thing that had happened, and all the bad things that were happening. We came so close to giving up.' she said quietly, silently willing him to look at her.

He hunkered down into himself, turning his head slightly away from Phoebe.

'I remember feeling so angry, and so helpless.' she continued. ' I wanted to destroy every bad thing there was, and never think about magic again.' her voice became softer.

'Piper was probably the angriest. She put herself in danger to kill demons, and evil. She let it consume her, and we almost didn't get her back. Her voice hitched, remembering what it was like.

Chris listened to her, and felt his heart constrict again. He didn't look at Phoebe, afraid of what his face may give away. He bounced between anger and gratefulness. He had let her in, expecting to see her leave when she got what she wanted. He knew Phoebe, and she wouldn't give in until he let her in. Now, he was regretting it, listening to her explain Piper's grief, and the way it mirrored his own. He glanced over at her, waiting for her to say more. She was, instead, waiting for his reaction.

Memories of his solitiary hunt flashed before him, and he swallowed. 'It worked before.' he said softly.

Phoebe kept her eyes trained on him, mentally clapping herself for getting him to respond. She waited for him to continue.

'Vanquishing demons, I mean.' he stated. 'When some of my family died, that's what I did. I spent hours destroying whole clans of them.' he ventured to her softly.

Pheobe clasped her hands repeatedly, gathering responses in her mind. She didn't know what to say.

'Chris..' she said haltingly. 'That kind of release is only going to get you killed.' she said, voice rising as she contemplated the sheer danger he had put himself in. He laughed then, bringing his eyes up to meet hers.

'That's what my aunt said.' he stated, voice traced with something Phoebe couldn't quite pick up.

'Well, your aunt sounds like a very smart woman.' she stated loudly, voice still vibrating with a protective anger.

Chris really laughed then. 'You have no idea.' he whispered, voice shaking with laughter, and a hint of sadness.

She wondered at the emotions his voice hinted at. She appraised his form, wondering what other injuries he was hiding.

'I suppose if I called Leo right now, I would be right in assuming that you wouldn't let him heal you?' she ventured, still taking in his numerous injuries.

He brought bright, glassy eyes up and smirked. 'You would be correct.' he smirked.

She sighed. The witchlighter was almost swaying, even as he sat. The glassy state of his eyes worried her, and she was having to speak louder to get him to respond to her.

'Chris, just come back to the manor. What happens if you have a concussion or something?' she begged with him.

He snorted. 'I've had worse.' he smirked up at her again. 'What's with the sudden onset of worry anyway, Phoebe? Conscious eating away at you? He said sarcastically.

She felt her mouth set into a familiar determined line. She was not going to allow him to antagonise her. 'Chris, you're swaying, despite the fact that you're sitting. You are covered in scratches.' She bent down and pulled his shirt from his neck, remembering how he had kept his collar up. She winced at the bruises. 'You are also covered in bruises. You're eyes are barely open, and glassy at that.' she continued. 'You are this close to collapsing, and you may have a concussion.' she bent down to meet his eyes. 'You are in no shape to be alone, and I'm not going to be galled into leaving you alone.' she said determinedly.

He continued to meet her eyes, and match her stare. They continued to stare, neither backing down. Chris felt his lungs hitch and swore internally. He had to look away as a coughing fit seized him.

Phoebe smiled triumphantly. 'Like I said, you are in no condition to be alone.' she said.

'Im not going to the manor.' he snapped defiantly, knowing he was defeated.

Phoebe sighed internally, knowing she would never win this particular battle. The fact that she had even gotten to this point with him was prove of how much he needed it.

'Ok.' she said. 'But I'm going to stay here.' she glared him down, daring him to challenge her.

Surprise, and an overwhelming sense of protectiveness rushed over her as he began to lie down. He placed his hands beneath his head as he gingerly rested them on the couch arm. His eyes closed as he answered her.

'Fine.' his voice came out raggedly. 'Suit yourself.'

Phoebe stood there, mildly triumphant and more than a little confused.

She stared at him for a few moments as his breath evened out, and she felt her heart go out to him. She couldn't explain this sudden need to protect him, but the feeling had burrowed into her heart.

She glanced around around the small room, reaching for the nearby chair. As she pulled it up, resting her feet at the end of the couch. She kept her eyes on Chris's face. She crossed her arms, and settled in for a long stay...

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Thanks for reading:P


	5. Chapter 5

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'Chris?' Phoebe's soft voice floated across the space between her and and the couch. She lent forward, hand hovering over his shoulder as his body shot up, racked by coughs.

As exhaustion had him shooting back down again, Phoebe held herself back, at a loss at what she could do.

'Mm, fine.' came Chris's fumbled reply, as he burrowed himself onto the couch.

Phoebe snorted. 'I severely doubt that.' came her dry retort.

His eyes opened to stare at her, a smirk dancing across his face. He let his eyes drift closed again, clasping his hands into the pillow.

'Go home Phoebe. This is nothing I haven't handled before.' he stated simply to her. The statement was neither angry or worried, simply filled with exhaustion.

'A few bruises aren't going to kill me.' he finished, voice trailing off.

Phoebe didn't reply, content to allow him to fall asleep again. She had been running an inner debate for the last hour, since the first time Chris had shot awake with coughs. He needed to be healed. She didn't know whether Chris would actually allow that to happen though. Nor did she know whether Leo would do it. She knew Leo's feelings for Chris consisted mainly of suspicion.

Even she was hesitant to trust him. Each time she felt her barrier begin to fall, the events of the last few weeks were all she could think about. Chris had manipulated them like an expert, knowing exactly what buttons to push and when. She didn't like being played, but at least she understood. After his own barriers had fallen, and she had felt his emotions for the first time, she had also felt his intentions, and all she had felt was good. Right now, to her that was enough.

And, she hoped, Leo may have realised this too. After she had talked to him in the kitchen nights only a day ago, she had been baffled by his reaction. Of all people, she had expected Leo to treat Chris only with suspicion. But she had been surprised, with his reaction to their discussion, and to the fight last night. It had given her hope that she could get someone on her side and battling for Chris with her. Given what she had felt,and what she saw now, last nights fight had only been the tip of a deep and very well hidden ice berg.

Chris tossed again, settled into a position that allowed Phoebe to see his face. He was now curled deeper into the couch, face half buried in the cushions. She could see signs of a fever as one hand was kept against his ribs. The other was clutching the blanket, curled next to his face.

She kept her eyes on him, allowing this different Chris to sink into her mind. This Chris wasn't angry, or hunting or aloof. He was hurt, and used to suffering through that alone, she realised. As she appraised his injuries again and again, finding an excuse to call Leo, a light switched on in the back of her head.

Chris wasn't here to keep them happy. He wasn't here to vanquish demons, or to help them. In his mind, what the Charmed ones thought of him was an afterthought.

_He's here to save a future where he thinks lying injured and alone is acceptable. _The realization popped into the forefront of her mind.

With that realization came a determination. She smirked to herself, and sent up a prayer, an insistent call, to the elder that could help her...

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	6. Chapter 6

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Phoebe jerked awake as she felt herself begin to slip. Her eyes winced at the increasing amounts of light entering the room. She rubbed her eyes in a vain effort to stay alert and glanced again at the door. She was expecting a visitor, and soon. She glanced from the door to Chris and back again, knowing all she could do was wait.

She began to appraise Chris's injuries again. He wasn't tossing and turning through his sleep as much, and was now nestled into the corner. While one hand curled next to his face, the other was kept stubbornly against his ribs, as it had been all night. His breathing hitched and a snarl crossed his face, as his hand tightened. Phoebe had decided hours ago that his ribs were at least badly bruised, if not broken. His fever had crawled up through the early hours of the morning, and she was now cursing his stupid sorry ass for not getting healed in the first place.

When a soft knock disturbed her thoughts only moments later, she breathed a sigh of relief. The person on the other side gently creaked open the door, having been warned to orb outside, wary of waking Chris. As he closed the door behind him, Phoebe smiled at him.

'Hi Leo.' her voice floated across the small space to him.

Leo barely acknowledged the greeting, eyes and ears all on the injured man lying in front of him. Leo allowed his eyes to wander over Chris, silently measuring the injuries and their cost. As his hands balled into fists, he sighed.

'What happened Phoebe?" he asked.

Phoebe swallowed, still debating whether she had made the right call, and replied.

'As far as I know, he was injured demon hunting. He never really confirmed it, but that's pretty much what I gathered. It was before last night.'

'Demon hunting?' Leo raised his brows at her.

'Yes, demon hunting. By himself, Leo.'

Leo offered no reply, instead choosing to sit on the end arm of the couch. He contemplated his and Phoebe's conversation from the previous day, and sighed. There was no doubt that Chris was badly hurt. Leo could almost feel the heat radiating from Chris's form, despite the slight shiver he had. Leo could see Chris's chest move up and down erratically as his breath continued to catch in his throat. Leo moved forward to check his pulse, and found it to be thready and fast.

Leo felt his own breath constrict. When Pheobe had called him, Leo had not known what to expect, but it wasn't this. He had heard her panicked call and only doubted it, never fully expecting Chris to accept their help.

As he stood up again, he realised that Chris had no part in calling him. Chris was hurt enough that he slept as they stood there. The Chris that presented himself to Leo wouldn't do that. The Chris that Leo knew would barely speak small talk with him, let alone ask for his help. This Chris was not the Chris he was used to seeing.

And still, Leo didn't know whether he wanted to heal Chris. Much as he wished otherwise, Leo could only ever remember all the bad things that had culminated with Chris's arrival. Everytime he talked to Chris, he walked away feeling like he'd joined half way in the conversation and had missed all the important bits. He was constantly holding back and Leo was sure it was important. But he had could never figured out what it was that Chris wasn't saying. So he refused to trust him. Even as he proved his good intentions, Leo remembered only the bad. He followed him and interrogated him, desperately seeking answers. He had got nothing for his troubles, and so further condemed Chris in Leo's eyes.

Chris hadn't helped himself. Because they had never seen him do it, the sisters and Leo had assumed him almost incapable of loving anyone. Leo questioned how easily he seemed to adjust to being by himself. He wondered what kind of person would be refuse the company of the only people he knew. Leo could never do it, so dis-trusted Chris because he could. He assumed so many different reasons for it, but after last night, he realised none of these were the right one.

So Leo still questioned him.

A hacking cough rose from the other end of the couch, and Leo made his decision. He set his jaw as he turned back to Phoebe.

'Phoebe?' he ventured

She flicked her eyes to him, eyebrows raised in question.

'He has to be woken up.' he stated, squaring himself for argument.

He got what he expected. Phoebe raised herself of her chair, ready to argue. 'Why?' she whispered angrily. 'You've healed people when they were asleep before.'

Leo allowed his hand to rub agaisn't his shoulder, still sore from where Chris had shoved him.

'Those people trusted me Phoebe. They weren't going to start attacking me if they woke up mid-heal.' he explained to her, voice tinted with a wry sadness. 'I have the funny feeling that Chris may react differently.'

Phoebe's shoulders slumped as her argument deflated, and she collapsed back onto the seat. 'Ok.' she agreed. She snorted as she thought of exactly how Chris would react. 'I see your point.' she said, a sad smirk dancing across her face.

They both turned towards the couch then, each one regretting having to wake the restful whitelighter. Phoebe sighed and placed her hand gently across Chris's shoulder and shook ever so slightly.

She bent her knees, bringing their faces level and smiled warmly as blood shot eyes met her own.

It took him a moment to focus on her, and she tightened her hand as his eyes sharpened.

'Welcome back to the waking world.' she smiled gently at him again. She widened her grin as he rubbed his eyes. She marveled at how young he looked. She had seen Wyatt do the same thing as he woke, and she laughed to herself.

Chris mumbled as he focused on her again. She thought she heard the word 'awake' and she sobered.

'I'm sorry Chris, but I called Leo.' She decided to leap right to the point. She felt a stab of guilt as his eyes flew up to meet hers, no longer sleepy. Despite it, she continued.

'I wasn't going to sit here and let you get worse.' she said with a slightest tinge of anger, trying to justify her actions. 'So I called Leo. You're getting healed.'

Chris felt unexplainable tinges of panic flash across his mind as he set his jaw and drew breath, just as ready to argue as Phoebe. He launched himself up onto his elbows, only to be sent sprawling again by his own exhaustion. He balled his hands into his fists and screwed his eyes shut, seeing his argument deflate with his collapse.

'You just disproved your own argument before you started kid.' Leo's gentle voice reached Chris. Chris cracked one eyelid open and surveyed Leo. Chris could sense.. something in Leo's voice. Something that this Leo wasn't supposed to have yet, something that made Chris feel completely safe and want to scream at the same time. That softness to Leo's voice brought a flood of memories and Chris felt like he was eight all over again. He felt like he was back in a thousand memories that he never wanted to feel again. Flashes of scrapes, bruises and sicknesses only children can get flew past his eyes and he yearned for that something that was had always present to make him feel better. That something had Chris's dad written all over it. Not future Leo, or past Leo or the elder Leo. This was all the Chris's dad side of Leo. _This _Leo, the one standing in front of him now, was offering the same something. But this Leo wasn't the one that Chris wanted standing there, and this was the fact that made him want to scream. He could barely remember the Leo he wanted right now, and that made it hurt all the more.

This Leo moved forward when Chris turned his head from them. He had seen the lack of fight from him, and felt alarm bells go off in his head. He was still a whitelighter, a protector, and so felt his heart constrict each time he saw people in pain. Even people he didn't trust.

'Chris?' Leo called gently. Chris felt a hand rest gently on his shoulder as Leo reached out to him.

The face that swam into his view was so achingly familiar. This was the face that he remembered from before he could walk. This was the face that hovered over him when he broke his arm, and when he had chicken pox. This belonged to his _dad._ The same hitch in the voice, the same worried expression had been staples of childhood injuries. Even as he recognised that _this _Leo may as well be a stranger, he had only one thought swimming through the fog of his injured mind.

Yet he couldn't say it. As his eyes met Leo's, he couldn't say it. He couldn't tell this man who he was.. who he would be. He couldn't say a tiny three letter word that could have changed everything.

So he let it linger in his mind. He let traces of memories that came with it linger, as he repeated the tiny three letter word in his mind.

_Dad._


	7. Chapter 7

Well. Nearly two months. I really suck, I know. Thank you to those of you willing to stick with this one. Much appreciated! And I would promise to try much harder to update quickly, but we know how that's worked out before lol.

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_Dad_...

As Leo's warm brown eyes followed his own, Chris tried desperately to forget that stupid three letter word. Every time his mind dredged the word up, he would wince at the memories that came with it. He looked again into the eyes hovering above his own, he felt the similar flood of memories wash over him. The same eyes that kept watch now, were the same ones he remembered as a kid. This was the Leo that Chris couldn't really remember anymore. This side of Leo was the one that Chris's earliest memories consisted of. Here, there was no trace of the angry, distant widower that Chris had come to hate. The Leo before that, the one that was standing in front of him now, was just as dead for him as Piper. He remembered thinking of that version of Leo, heaped with the kind of little kid awe that only a 4 year old can come up with, and it made his heart constrict a little.

He barely remembered that kind of Leo, yet here he was, standing over Chris ready and willing to heal. This was _Chris's _Leo down to the look on his face, and Chris couldn't stand it. He'd given up that Leo years ago, and was not ready to deal with that particular memory.

So the worried Leo in front of him got shrugged off. The hand that had rested on Chris's shoulder, awaiting permission to heal, was now violently shaken off. Chris turned his head to his knee and clenched his hands, stubbornly refusing eye contact. As he sat there shaking and injured, he drew himself away, reaching for a sense of composure.

As he pulled away, he noted the furtive glances pass between Leo and Phoebe.

'Chris?' Pheobe's voice floated past his ears.

He ignored it. He ignored the hand hovering just above his shoulder. He ignored the sound coming from Phoebe, the not-quite words that were expressions all the same. He ignored the way Leo ran his hand through his hair, completely thrown out by this vulnerable new Chris. He ignored the way Leo's mouth opened and closed, desperate for something to say, and struggling to find it.

He ignored it all because he had seen the twin looks that had crossed their faces. He had seen the looks that passed between them, each saturated with something that Chris hadn't seen for a very long time. He recognised the deep lines of worry that were visible in each face, and it shattered him.

_'They arent supposed to freakin' care.' _his mind stumbled over the thought.

He could deal with this if they didn't care. He knew how to take it when they didn't care. If they didn't care then he could safely convince himself that the people he had come to save were not the people he had grown up around. And if he didn't grow up with them, that means he didn't lose them.

He'd managed to convince himself that these people weren't his family. But that conviction wavered every time they did something like this. Every time they looked at him like that, he couldn't trick himself into believing that. The shield he had erected around himself was slowly eroding away, and he knew he was going to crack. He just wasn't about to crack with these two looking on..

He drew his head up, leveling his eyes with Leo. He drew in a shuddered breath as Leo's face grew worried again.

'Chri-?'

Chris cut him off as bright blue light surrounded him.

'I'm sorry.' he whispered. The blue lights whisked around him as he summoned the last ounces of strength he had, until they appeared to almost swallow him, disappearing moments after Chris's form.

Leo and Pheobe sat there, stilled by his audacity. Outstretched arms reaching towards Chris's former resting place, in a useless and delayed attempt to catch him somehow. But they could do nothing.

Chris was gone.

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Phoebe paced the length of the manor's lounge. They had orbed back to the manor moments after Chris disappeared, heading for the map and scrying tools. Their small hours of the morning had been consumed brainstorming for places where he would have gone. It had taken them just seconds for them to realise that they had no idea.

Leo was now long gone, orbing places over the city to find him. Paige had grudgely followed, doing the same. The manor had slowly emptied until only Piper and Phoebe remained, forced to wait on news from the others.

'Why are you worrying so much Phoebe?' Piper's voice penetrated Pheobe's thinking.

She looked up quizzically at her, eyebrows raised.

Piper sighed at the hostility written across her features.

'Phoebe, I'm not trying to say we shouldn't care. All I'm saying is that's he clearly taken care of himself for a long time. He's know how to by now. '

Phoebe looked up at her sister, a list of Chris's injuries rolling around in her thoughts.

'You didn't see him Piper. I'm not going to leave _anyone _in that kind of condition, let alone our whitelighter.' she crossed her arms stubbornly.

Piper gazed at Pheobe, searching for something. She unfolded her legs from beneath her, pulling herself of the couch. She outstretched her hands towards her little sister and enveloped her in a hug.

'We'll look after him, Phoebe.' she stated. As she rested her head on Phoebe's shoulder, she tried to ignore the unexplainable, worry filled butterflies leaping around her stomach. She felt responsible for this mess. She squeezed her eyes shut and prayed hard that Leo would find their whitelighter...

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_Rain was lashing against the beams that fourteen year old Chris was holding on to. He felt the slight sting of hard drops against his face but did nothing to ward them off. Night was beginning to take hold of the city, and Chris was glad. People would start going home now. He could go home without the fear of having another person tell him how sorry they were. That they were lucky to still have their dad. Chris smirked, face tainted with anger at the memory of the first woman who said that. _

_He heard the faint sound of orbs behind him, feeling his body tense and hands ball into fists. He didn't have to turn around to know who it was._

_'You can keep collecting me from here as much as you want, I'm not staying down there.' he snapped at the whitelighter behind him._

_He felt a hand clap on to his shoulder and he lurched sideways to break from it, almost tripping in the effort to back away. _

_Leo sighed heavily, willing himself not to give up on Chris. 'This is the fifth time today that we've done this Chris. It's getting a little tired now.' Leo tried to keep the anger and exhaustion out of his voice. 'Can we please just go home? I'm not letting you stay up here.' Leo stared down Chris. He was not going to let an angry, grieving kid make him give up. He reached his hands out to Chris again. _

_Chris lurched back again, stumbling against the poles supporting him. 'No Leo.' he yelled. 'You don't get to walk in and pretend like you care. That's not the way it works, dad.' He laced the last words with sarcasm and menace, still shaky on his feet and numb from the rain. _

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Twenty two year old Chris lurched forward, hands crashing into the red support beams around him, stumbling against the poles that had been supporting him. He brought one hand up to his head, allowing the other to steady him as he swore at the way the night was turning. He felt his legs shake, and collapsed them onto the floor of his favourite haunt. He grasped his hands around the beams and tried to get his erratic heart beat under control. He was thankful that at least in this particular event, it wasn't raining.

He relaxed against the beam behind him, pressing his hands hard against the ground. He tried hard to concentrate on simply breathing. He closed his eyes and willed himself to forget. He wanted to forget theevents of the last few days. He wanted to forget the family that wasn't really family - not yet. He wanted to forget that Bianca was no longer there to return to. He wanted to forget that he was him, and that there really was no way out of this.

So he he sat there and concentrated on simply breathing. He sat there and let himself go numb. He knew they would find him soon.

He heard the faint sound of orbs behind him. _Very soon_ he thought to himself. He turned slightly, ready to give a fight simply because he could. He drew breath enough to snap the name _Leo, _before that died on his lips as he saw his new companion.

'Not Leo.' he whispered.

The demon that was standing in front of him laughed hard. 'You wish you were that lucky, kid.'...

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	8. Chapter 8

_'You wish you were that lucky, kid.'_

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'Hi, Chris.' the newcomer grinning a maniacal grin. 'Sorry to ahhh.. disappoint.' he laughed ...

Chris's jaw hardened. His eyes widened as he backed against the support beam behind him. He was scared. Not scared, so much as, stumped. Confused. He opened and closed his mouth, not even a retort ready to sling at this new enemy. For once in his life, Christopher Perry Halliwell had no plan.

He had no damn _idea_.

His mind was blank. There was nothing. No thoughts, no plans and no idea what he was going to do. He had nothing but fear. He had faced a thousand of these situations before. He'd defiantly been in worse. He was a Halliwell, he was always going to facing worse. He had trained for it, prepared himself for it. He was supposed to be ready.

But here he was in another battle for life, and he had nothing. That scared him more than any demon...

His mouth gaped as he fought his mind to come up with something, _anything._ He had no weapons, no knowledge of the demon and no strength to battle him anyway. All he had was blankness.

'Shit.' he whispered. He couldn't even orb, his strength was so low.

The demon was spinning a knife in his hands. He had lent against a post and grinned. Chris hoped that he was in no hurry to kill just yet. Chris's eyes focused on the flash of blade circling in the demons hands. He swore under his breath again, wishing he had a weapon.

'Well.'

The demons gravely voice reached Chris's mind. 'Nice to see my friends did a hell of a number on you.' he grinned again. 'They do such excellent work when they're angry.' the demon laughed. He ran a finger up the blade, casually beginning to circle Chris. 'And they were _so_ angry.' he snarled.

Chris scrambled against his leaning post, latching on to a metal piece to pull himself up. He put every effort into standing up straight. His eyes warily followed the demon's path. The demon continued playing with the blade, smiling casually, like a kid at the park. 'You see Chris.' the demon continued. 'We don't really like being slaughtered by people like you because you got a little pissed off.' He smirked at him, voice laced with menace and sarcasm.

'It ain't fun.' he continued, paused after each word, still playing with the blade. 'We were _so _sorry to hear about you're lovely girlfriend.. _but really, _Chris.' he continued. The demon over played his expressions like a bad actor, the sad frown contradicted by a raised brow. It all gave Chis the impression of a madman.

The demon allowed the edges of his fake frown to upturn. 'You didn't have to go all crazy on us.' The frown turned into a very genuine scowl. The demon was a showman. He kept swirling the blade, toying with it as he eyed Chris. 'We didn't appreciate what you did, Chris.' he spoke Chris's name as though it were poison being spat out.

Chris said nothing. He had come to a conclusion. It had dawned why the demon was here. It was about the hunts. And the demons he'd killed.

This demon didn't just want him dead, it wanted revenge. It wanted bloody, drawn-out, painful, revenge. Chris tried to swallow down the fear that was beginning to claw at his airways. There was no way he would survive this. There was no way this demon would allow him to survive this. He'd seen the crazed look of his eyes. He noted how anger seemed to fuel all of the demons movements. Even for a demon, this one was _angry. _

He would need help.

'Damn it.' he whispered again. He didn't stand a chance without it. He just didn't want to admit that he needed it. He thought of the sister's, and of Leo. He wondered whether they would respond even if he asked for help.

His eyes wandered up to the demon's face, as he watched a snarl cross it's mouth. He realised he didn't have a choice. Chris involuntarily shrank towards the pole. His injuries were crippling him in the biting cold, and panic began to overtake him. It clawed at his control, his barrier. He swallowed hard.

'Please let this work.' he prayed.

He sighed, and he put every ounce of energy he had left into giving up. His conscious, used to years of battling autimatically battled agaisnt the instinct. But Chris kept it up. He allowed himself to lose control. He allowed the panic to batten down his mask. Like a dam breaking, everything he had fought hard to fight was now being projected as far as he could make it.

Every scrap of emotion and welled up thought he had flooded from behind his mask, being pushed to every corner of the city that his mind could reach. He fought to make each thought as strong and as uncontrolled as he could, begging for it to reach Phoebe. He thanked whoever he could that she was an empath. He only hoped that she would hear him...

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The demon's eyes narrowed. 'What's the matter Chris. You seem a little flustered.' It said with the grin still plastered across it's face. He laughed at Chris, who fixed the demon with a detrermined glare. Chris steadied himself and watched the demon take slow, casual steps towards Chris. He watched the blade circle over and over.

He feared his thoughts hadn't gone far enough. He would need more. He used all of his remaining strength, and allowed his mind to yell. He reached with it as far as he could, as he screamed within his mind. He couldn't tell whether he touched anyone, but he could only hope..

He brought his thoughts back to the bridge, just as the demon reached for him. Chris brought his hands up, preparing to fight a losing battle. The demon grabbed his collar, and pulled Chris's face closer to it's own. ' Ever since you started your little one man battles, we could never figure out who the hell you were.' the demon stated. 'You turn up, and all of a sudden every thing's turned on it's head.'

The demon smiled, baring it's yellow teeth. 'So what _we _did, was a little bit of... sleuthing.' The demon paused before the last word, throwing up his hands in a showman's manner as he began to wander in a circle again. He kept the grin plastered across his face...

The demon made another lunge for Chris. This time he brought both hand and blade up to Chris's neck as he grasped the collar. 'You see, Chris. Little future boy Chris.'

He leaned in further, eyes centimetres away from Chris's own. He smiled a wide, toothy, knowing smile that made Chris shiver.

The smile broke. The demon met Chris's eyes as his filled with a knowing menace. A snarl replaced the, somehow scarier, smile.

'You see Chris.' Sarcasm and conceit lined it's voice. The demon sighed. Suddenly Chris found himself flying through the air, ribs cracking and groaning on impact. The demon smiled again as it lurched towards him.

'I know who you are.' he said in a quiet victory.

Chris's head snapped up, eyes widening. His mouth gaped, as his mind gave him the same response it had been all night. Blankness. The demon moved forward, spinning the knife to clutch the hilt.

Chris scrambled back, and let his mind scream for everything he was worth...

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Leo orbed into the manor kitchen, eyebrows furrowed into a defeated expression. Phoebe and Piper glanced up simultaneously, identical worried expressions across their faces. He frowned at their unspoken questions. 'I can't even feel him. Let alone try to pinpoint where he is. We won't find him if he doesn't want us to. His barrier is too strong.' he lurched himself into a spare seat, head landing in his hands.

Piper glanced from Phoebe to Leo, still berating herself over how she treated Chris. She swallowed her worry and her pride and clapped a hand over each of their shoulders.

'He's strong. He'll be fine. I'm sure if he was really in trouble, he'd come to us. Right?' she stated hopefully, trying desperately to make everyone feel better. Her words were as much for her own benefit as anyone else. She wanted to believe so badly that he would be okay. Not just so she could stop feeling so guilty, but something deeper than that. There was something about this that just screamed _sad_ to her. She thought it was the mother in her. The overwhelming need to look after someone who didn't have anyone else, it was all the mother in her, she told herself.

She wasn't sure she entirely believed it..

She sighed. 'Maybe we should scry for him again?' she ventured. 'It's not like it could hurt.'

Leo gave her an exhausted smile. 'It could only help.' he responded. The map sat under Phoebe's hand. 'Phoebe?' he asked. 'Want to do the honours?'

Phoebe's eyes looked forward, refusing to acknowledge what was going on. 'Phoebe?' he ventured again. Her eyes looked glazed, as her hands clasped into fists. She appeared not to hear them.

Leo and Piper glanced at each other, twin looks of confusion clouding their faces. Piper reached a hand out to Phoebe's and grasped in her own. 'Pheobe, honey?'

Suddenly Phoebe screwed her eyes shut and unclasped her hands. She shook her head and allowed her eyes to blink open as she gasped under her breath. 'He's calling for help.' she announced, launching herself out of her chair. 'Somethings happened, he's let his barrier down.' she talked fast, a hint of hysteria on her voice. 'He's calling for our help.' she almost yelled, spinning to face the other two.

Piper reached for Phoebe's hand again. 'Calm down, Phoebe.' she implored. 'Do you mean Chris?' Phoebe ran a hand through her hair, nodding to Piper's question. 'Yea.' she said quietly.

She started pacing through the kitchen. 'What he was doing, he was doing on purpose.' she wondered out loud.

Leo looked up at her. 'Maybe he's just too weak to keep his barrier up?'

Phoebe shook her hand. 'No, I don't think so. I've felt him before, when it was like that, but this was different..' She paused and crossed her arms. 'Last time, it felt like everything felt like it was just trickling out of him. Like a leak.' she mused. 'This was different. This felt like a flood. Like he was pushing on it, or something.' she paused again as it hit her. 'It's like he's purposely stopped putting up whatever it is he does to stop empaths. He _let _it break.'

She slumped back into her seat. 'Why would he do that?' she questioned, a tinge of worry accompanying her words.

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Leo trained his eyes on Phoebe, worry drawn across his face. Much as he didn't want to agree with her, he thought Phoebe was right. Though he couldn't feel it like Phoebe, he did sense.. something. He couldn't really describe it. Sensation was the best word he could think of. A sensation of a dam breaking, and the flood rushing out was the only way he could sum it up. It was only a small something in the back of his mind. He didn't know who it belonged to, but he could guess.

He wondered what kind of trouble Chris might be in that he'd send such a desperate call for help...

All of a sudden he felt the...sensation, pulse dramatically, sending spikes of someon else's pain through Leo's skull. Panic rushed with it, dropping as suddenly as it started. It felt like a charge calling for him, but on a scale Leo rarely felt. This was pure, radiating _fear._ It was overwhelming.

The panic was quickly followed by yells. Leo couldn't make out any words but the distinct impression he got from the yell reverberating around his head was _help. _

And suddenly it stopped. The voice stopped. The panic flowed away. Leo sucked in a huge gulp of air, overwhelmed by what had happened...

He shook his head in an attempt to clear it. He had a moment of blankness before thought's flooded his mind. Where could Chris be? How badly was he hurt? Has he gotten injuries on top of the ones he already had? What exactly is he facing that he calls that badly for help?

Leo sighed. He still had no idea where Chris was, or even where to begin looking. He needed more information. He may not trust Chris, but he couldn't ignore a call like that.

The piercing flood arrived again, overtaking his mind. He cradled his head as pain spiked his mind. The yelling quickly came back, but this time it was stronger. It was almost a scream. But Leo could sense something from this one. Under the panic, and the pain Leo could make out a word. He could make out an image... Chris sprawled across hard concrete ground with a knife to his throat. Blood sprawled across an already red surface. Kicks and punches and fire and a word screamed in Chris's weakening, slurring voice. Under all of that, Leo heard the unmistakable sound of his own name. The whispered cry for help that Chris was projecting as far as he could...

Leo's eyes flew open as it hit him. The sisters were both looking at him, much like he had looked at Phoebe before. He smiled grimly. 'The bridge.' he announced triumphantly, surrounding himself in the blue lights that preceded every orb...

XxxxxxxxxX

Chris struggled against the knife just inches from his face. He kicked against the demon, barely expecting it to work. He rolled away and launched himself onto unsteady feet as the demon lunged at him again. He blocked the blows as best he could, managing to deflect all but the worst. He didn't kid himself. This demon could have blown him to pieces if that was what he wanted. He was thankful for the time that a real fight could buy him. The demon kept throwing tuants his way, throwing emotional punches along with the real ones.

The little energy he had began with was failing, and he was running out of ideas. He hoped that someone had heard his call. He knew he would die soon without help...

He slowed for just a moment and the demon pounced, bringing a fist to his jaw, and a hand around Chris' throat. 'So, future boy?' he snarled. 'Do you're charges know who you are?' he smirked, anger rolling off him in waves. "I'm sure they would love to know.' he grinned.

Chris struggled against the demons hold. The demon snorted in response, hoisting him higher against the beam. 'I bet they haven't got a clue, have they?' he taunted. 'It wasn't really that hard you know. It's pretty obvious where you get that bitchy streak from.' the demon snapped, rolling the words around his mouth like they were vermin to be spat out.

Chris tried desperately to stay alert and awake, focusing his eyes on the beam in front of him. The demon continued to taunt him, but it fell to deaf ears. Chris was too distracted by the show of blue light's that were slowly turning into a human shape. He grinned inwardly. Somebody had heard him...

Chris snapped his eyes back towards the demon, trying hard to keep the attention on him. He grinned at the demon. 'So who exactly did I off to piss you off this much?" he looked up at the demon, taunting him back. He saw the anger deepen in the demon's eyes and felt the grip around his neck tighten. He steeled himself as he was launched throught the air, towards the new arrival.

He landed roughly, rolling to a stop at the feet of the new arrival. He brougth bloodshot, glassy eyes to meet the woried one's of the man who heeded his call..

'Leo.' he smiled a hard, pain filled smile.

Leo raised a brow back. He stepped in front of Chris's prone from as the demon turned, maniacal grin in place.

The showman act cracked as the demon fully turned. Chris saw his jaw harden, as his eyes narrowed. He looked down at Chris, menace lacing his every movement.

'Calling on daddy to save you, Christopher?. That's not very nice.' his anger fuelled voice carried across the bridge.

Leo's eyes met those of the demon for a short second. The demon dropped the hand holding the knife and opened his mouth.

'Just one curious thing, Elder.' he spat out.

'_Why _would he come back to save a bunch of strangers?'

Leo's eyes blinked in confusion... he didn't fully comprehend the words. He filed that away to demand meaning from Chris. The whitelighter was looking up at him, a qeustioning, if guilty look, cross his face. 'We'll deal with _that _later.' he stated. _Whatever that actually meant. _He thought.

Chris didn't fully register the implications of the words. He rolled back, protecting his sore ribs, as the demon lurched forward again, this time for a new target. Leo stepped forward and deflected the blows easily. He latched onto the demon's arm, throwing him across the bridge...

As the demon struggled to recover quickly, Leo crossed the few small steps to Chris, grasping his shoulder. 'Lets not wait for him to recover shall we?'

Chris snorted his agreement as Leo orbed them both out of the demon's threat...

XxxxxxxxxxX

Thankyou to those of you who are still reading this! I know my timing is pretty shabby, I'm trying hard lol. Thankyou so much to everyone who has reviewed, it's the only reason I'm still going with this. Tell me what you would like to happen

p.s Please review!


	9. Chapter 9

a.n Italics in the beginning are the demons speaking.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Leo watched the demon fly through the air.

_'Getting daddy rescue to you, that's low Christopher.'_

He crouched, reaching a hand out to Chris's shoulder.

'_He doesn't know who you are,Chris._

Leo drifted his eyes over to the rising demon. The menace in the voice stuck with him. He cringed.

_'Just one little thing, Leo.'_

Leo shook his head, ignoring the demon's words. But they kept on playing in his ears.

'_Why would he come back to save a bunch of strangers?_

Those words stay in his head.

XxxxxxxxxX

The reddening, contorted face of the demon was just inches away from his own, and it spoke.

_'Your family doesn't trust you.'_

A kick to the ribs, and he hears it again

_'Your father hates you as much now as he does in your time.'_

A knife dangerously comes close to his throat, and there it is again.

_'They kicked you out. Your own family. What does that tell you.' _

He flys through the air, and the voice follows him.

'_You have no one, now or in the future. Your practically one of us.'_

The reverberating laugh bounces around his mind, filling it.

'_I don't know __why__ you want to survive.'_

And then all of a sudden.

_'It's ok. Your safe now. Relax. I have to heal you.'_

Suddenly hard concrete is replaced by something gentle, soft and decidely pink. His fuddled mind doesn't care. It's forgiving and warm. It's safe. He can forgive the pink for now.

Someone's hand's are on his shoulders, supporting them and keeping him upright. He can tell they're speaking to him, but he can't make out the words. He struggles to keep his head up, seeking eye contact. His head swims as he struggles to keep it up, and he fails. He pitches forward, falling into a pair of strong arms, waiting to catch him.

His head lolls forward, finding a comfortable shoulder. There's still a voice, but this one is gentle and quiet, with none of the menace of the other.

Chris listens to the voice, not quite making out the words but accepting the comfort it offers. It's a soft murmuring that practically screams_ safe _to him. The blood is pounding in his brain, and all he can tell is the other voice isn't here. The one with the knife. The demon who knew his secret. He can feel a growing drop of something ooze down his head , dripping on to the life giving shoulder in front of him. He can make out whispers, but he can't make out what they're saying. He can hear noises shaping into soft, high voices.

He can make out other sounds. The gentle voice eminating from above the shoulder grows louder until it echoes around the room. It yells and yells, and Chris flinches. He can feel the sharp intake of breath coming from the body that's keeping him from falling, and the voice stops yelling when Chris cringes. A hand comes up to the back of his head, feeling the egg shaped lump that's only growing bigger. The hand comes away when Chris's vision wavers, and a spreading red stain begins to take over the pink.

Chris has a nagging feeling that that's probably a bad thing. A life threatening thing.

The shoulder under his head moves, and the pattering rhythm he'd thought was a lifetime away, comes closer. A door flys open, and shadows fall across the floor. Voices that he didn't even hear until that moment fall to a whisper. The gentle voice from before speaks again, and suddenly there's another hand on his forehead. A different one. He remembers this hand. He remembers fevers and broken bones and this hand over his own. The feeling of _family _and _mom _and _happy_ flood his mind where earlier the demon had taken over.

He screws his eyes shut and clenches his fists, trying to draw himself away from the gentle voices and the comforting hands. His mom is gone. This hand shouldn't exist anymore. He shudders in another breath, but doesn't quite have the strength to draw away from the shoulder supporting his head.

So the hand that says _mom _stays.

The gentle voice reaches his ears again, and an arm wraps around his shoulders to support him. He keeps his eyes firmly shut, warding of the pain and relaxes into the steady shoulder in front of him again. He manages to make out the words being spoken.

_'It was a demon.'_

_'Heal him already.'_

_'He's bleeding too much.'_

_'He can't hold himself up.'_

_'Hurry up Leo.'_

And the last words, the ones coming from the body holding him up, the one with the gentle voice.

'_He won't let me heal. He's fighting everything I'm trying.'_

Chris drew in another shuddering breath. Memories from other demon flights flew past his eyes. These days, fighting magic was second nature to him. It's just what he did. Even bleeding and delirious, he fought. He had seen the cost that could come with trusting someone to 'heal' you. A lot of witches he had known had been taken down because they had trusted someone.

So even here, he always fought it. No matter who it was. But still, he wasn't fully convinced that he was fighting the magic so much as he was fighting Leo.

Other thoughts took over then. He thought of _Leo. _Not the grieving vigilante Leo, but the one before that. The one with the comforting hand , the gentle voice. Leo had just saved his life. He could trust Leo. He could trust his own _father_.

He hopes, anyway.

He sighed. He gripped his hands into fists and concentrated on relaxing, on trusting the gentle voice. He clenched his jaw, and relaxed, slowly trying to dissolve away the fight he had built up for years.

He opened his mouth, trying to speak. He only manages a groan. He breathed in again and brings a hand up to massage his throat. He opens his eyes and tried again. And suddenly a gravely, halting voice comes floating out.

'Try now.' he whispered.

He felt Leo's head snap around to face him.A hand came to his chin, gently bringing it up so Leo could see his face. Chris gasped as tendrils of pain snaked through every crevice inside his head. He gripped his hands into fists again and gritted the words out again.

'Hey, whoa now.' Leo says gently resting steady hands on Chris's shoulders.

Chris latches on to them like a life line, letting his shaky hands encase Leo's wrists. His head is still throbbing, pain echoeing around his mind. He squeezes Leo's arms because of the pain and he feels a comforting squeeze on his shoulders in return.

Leo's speaking to him again, and it's worrying him that he can't seem to understand it. His heart beats a little faster and he can feel panic add itself to everything else. But then he feels the blessed relief that can only mean he isn't fighting it anymore.

He can feel relief and something akin to _silence _spread through every tendril of pain. He can flex his hands, letting go of Leo without fear, until black encases the silence and he feels himself dropping into blankness. The pink fades, replaced by a deep black and suddenly there are no voices, no people, no shoulder, no Leo. Only his mind, and even that's losing the battle to rest.

And then he's asleep, falling again into that forgiving shoulder.

XxxxxxxxxX

'It's ok your safe, I have to heal you.'

As he says it, Leo wonders for a second how Piper will react when she finds a bleeding whitelighter sprawled over her bed. He damn well hopes the mother in her comes out before the bitch, but he's pretty sure she'll come through.

He hopes, anyway.

He doesn't think Chris can hear him. Leo can see Chris's eyes, and they're a painting of veins and sheen. Now that they're indoors and safe, the coating of blood becomes painfully obvious. Leo feels his heart strings pull in a thousand directions as he's holding Chris, watching him fight for control over his own body. There's a shake to his hand and his head lolls fowards, giving up the fight for strength. Leo has his arm around him in nanoseconds, feeling a thud as Chris's head falls onto his shoulder. He notices the shiny glob of blood ooze down the side of Chris's head, and for a moment his heart skips a beat.

He doesn't know why but right now he cares, and he thinks it's based on more than just the blood dripping onto his shoulder.

He's already trying to pump enough magic into Chris to heal him forever, but all he can feel is a big brick wall and for once he wishes the kid would just give up. But he won't.

So Leo yells for the girls, hoping they can think of _something, _and he's so damn happy to hear the thunder of feet up the stairs. He feels the body in his arms flinch, and he breathes in hard, willing the kid to give up already.

It feels like hours before the thundering becomes a patter, and the sisters spill into the door way. He can almost feel their jaws scrape across the floor, and he doesn't want to look at them, just incase they've got the same watery sheen across their vision that he does.

Piper's the first one to move. Suddenly, she's all mother, laying a gentle hand against Chris's burning face. He stirs a little, but not enough to move away, so Piper stays. They're all talking at once now, and he has to go in edgeways to get his side out.

But for all the words, and the looks and the very close tears, nobody knows what to do. So they all kind of stand there and chew on their lips, hoping. The pink is slowly giving way to red, and Chris still fights. But Leo feels a small sliver of hope when that brick wall wavers. So he attacks it with everything he can, and hopes Chris knows he's only helping.

They all stand to attention when Chris slurs something, and Leo reaches a hand to his chin. He can see the pain cross Chris's face, and he jumps to put steady hands on Chris's shoulders. He's surprised when Chris grabs them , holding on for dear life. He's squeezing them against the pain, and Leo can't help but squeeze back.

And he's so damn grateful when he feels that wall break that he doesn't mind the bloody mess on his shirt. He feels it break, and he goes for it, sending every last bit of magic he can into Chris slowly breathing a sigh of relief when he feels Chris relax.

He's not surprised when Chris' eyes stop blinking and finally just shut. He's there and ready to catch him when he pitches onto Leo's shoulder again, and he's more than happy to lower him against the pillows and let him sleep.

Pheobe still has a grimace planted across her face, and he could see the worry set in when Chris fell.

He lands a hand on her shoulder and speaks softly. ' I can't heal exhaustion, Phoebe. He just needs to sleep.'

He smiles, and she smiles back, and they all trade looks of relief.

They file out and he stays, silently agreeing to watch him in turns, regardless of healing.

And as he looks on to a peaceful face, he remembers the words the wouldn't leave, the ones from the bridge.

_'Why would he want to come back to save a bunch of strangers?'_

And he thinks.

Xxxxxxxx

done! now press the pretty little blue button in the corner


	10. Chapter 10

"_Why would he want to come back to save a bunch of strangers?"_

XxxxxX

Piper pushed the door to her room open gently, and tip toes in. Leo is there, watching Chris like a hawk. It's only been two hours since he was healed, but it feels like she's been waiting a lifetime to see him for herself. She was taking the next turn, and wanted to see that he was indeed alive and breathing.

"Hi," she smiles gently to Leo. He smiles gently back and stirs from the chair at Chris' feet. He takes a hand off Chris' leg to hold her hand.

"Hi," he smiled back as she takes his spot. As she sits, he moves a hand to Chris' shoulder and looks over to her.

"I want to get him out of this bloody shirt," he says. He picks up an old shirt of his and looks at her.

"I think we're going to have to gang up on him to get him to take care of himself, so we may as well start now," he smiled ruefully at her.

Piper gave him a sad nod, and moved to Chris' shoulder.

Leo gently wrapped his arms around Chris to get him in a sitting position. Chris was close enough to waking that the movement stirred him. His eyes opened slowly and are barely slits, but his weak hands move to grip onto Leo, and Piper thinks he might be trying to defend himself.

Leo thinks this to, and grabs Chris' hand while his arm is still wrapped around his ribs. "It's ok, we need to get this shirt off."

Chris mumbles slightly, but he stops trying to grip anything. Leo lets him rest against the wall and grabs his shirt. Leo hisses as he sees bruises still across Chris' chest.

"He obviously didn't let the healing work completely again," he sighed. Piper winces for them both, seeing how frustrated Leo is.

The blood is so thoroughly caked on his shirt that it grates against Chris' skin and Leo felt him shiver. Leo gestured to Piper and she helps Chris sit up while Leo manoeuvres the fresh shirt on.

She can feel that he's more asleep than awake because he's resting pretty heavily against her and he wouldn't do that by choice. His head lolls onto her shoulder, and it reminds her so much of Wyatt that almost wants to hug him and mother him and be a protector for the prone young man.

Leo gestures again, and she moves to let Leo wrap his arms around Chris again and lays him back down. Chris looks like a rag doll to Piper, and it worries her endlessly that he's so weak he would let Leo move him like that. He barely recognizes that he's being moved again and he's dead to the world before Leo even let's go.

Leo moved his hand across Chris' face, looking for more signs the healing didn't work. He frowns slightly, but doesn't say anything. He brushes past Piper with a smile and a squeeze of the hand before he's gone and she's alone with Chris.

She glances back at the closing door and then to Chris, before moving the chair as close as possible to the bed and watching his chest rise and fall.

She picked up the shirt he'd been wearing and wrinkled her nose at the roughness of the blood. She glanced back at the young man, sleeping in her bed, and felt a little jump in her chest. Two hours ago, she could have debating about caring for him. Two hours ago, she could have given up on him and his seemingly lost cause.

But not now.

Now, she'd seen him vulnerable and lost, holding on to Leo for his life. She'd seen a side of him she'd guessed he didn't show many people, and she felt privileged. She taken to heart the ease he'd let his guard down with Leo only moments ago. She felt an innate need right now to protect and care for him.

She sighed as she looked down at her neurotic whitelighter. She did not trust him. She didn't know him, or begin to understand him. She did not want to believe the stories and motives he said he'd come back in time for.

But right now, she felt an innate need to shield him. She felt a need to protect him and care for him that she couldn't explain or understand.

And she didn't care. She didn't care that she didn't trust him. She didn't care that he heralded the end of the world. All she cared about at that moment was that she was a mother, and this boy looked like he needed a mother.

XxxxxX

Chris felt his chest being constricted. _Demon _he thought. He felt light headed, and weak, and he swore he could feel the tip of a knife at his throat.

He tried to raise his hands towards the arms enclosing his chest, determined to continue a fight that he didn't know if he was winning. He was half way between sleeping and wakefulness, and he forced his eyes to open.

He tried to focus on his surrounds, seeing a blur of people. He felt a hand grasp around his own and a familiar voice floated towards him.

"It's ok, we need to get this shirt off."

He recognised that voice. It was the voice that said _safe. _He remembered being attacked, and Leo coming for him and saving his life. He remembered the demon wasn't here anymore.

He remembered collapsing onto a welcoming shoulder, and a hand that said _mom _dragging itself through his hair. He remembered battling his own magical barriers so Leo could heal him, and he remembered feeling more exhausted and wiped out than he had since he'd come here.

And he remembered that this Leo was _safe, _and he relaxed. He let his gripped fist fall to his side as he felt hands steady his shoulders.

They were the same hands from before, the ones that said _mom._

He also remembered the fights over the last two days, and screwed his eyes shut. He was too tired for this right now. He wanted to fall back in to the blackness, where he could be blissfully unaware.

He felt himself falling closer to that blackness, and his body relaxed into the warmth behind him. He barely felt his shirt being pulled over his head, to be replaced by another, but he did feel the sting of the roughness against his sore chest.

He was barely aware when the same arms wrapped around his chest again, and for a second he was enveloped in warmth everywhere, from the _mom _hands and the _safe _voice.

He barely felt when he was being pulled up, only to be gently lowered back down, head lolling onto the softness behind him. He felt himself being pulled back in to the blackness, burrowing himself in to the warmth of his new spot. His head emptied even as he felt a hand on his arm, but he was too close to asleep again to care...

XxxxX

So.. I realise it's been a while. I guess after this long it's more of a vanity project now, but I recently re read it and it seems a shame not to finish. So here goes..


	11. Chapter 11

Thanks for all the kind reviews! Here's a timely update to prove my gratitude..

XxxxxX

Leo dug his fingers into the rough blanket beneath him, looking around at the bare, tiny room at P3. This was the room Chris had been given as a place to live, and Leo could almost feel a sense of anxiousness coming from the walls.

He'd orbed out of the manor after Piper took over his watch, and somehow ended up in Chris' room at the club.

He'd spent over an hour watching Chris after he'd been healed and it had given him plenty of time to think. He thought about the demon's words on the bridge and Chris's own reaction. He thought about Chris' barriers, and the flood that had allowed him to find Chris in the first place.

"_Why would he come back to save a bunch of strangers?"_

The words kept playing in his head, toying with him and with his idea of Chris. He'd come up with a thousand explanations in his head about the possible connections. He'd reasoned about Chris' reasoning, he'd argued with himself about it. He replayed Chris' actions, his tactics, even his movements over and over again. He'd even thought about this room, the bareness of it and the way it screamed _Chris_ from every angle.

He had this giant feeling like something was staring him in the face and he'd missed it. He felt like he should _know, _like he should understand, but he didn't have a clue what he was supposed to be understanding.

He had an inkling, though. One that he deeply wanted to be true, and one that he desperately hoped wasn't, for Chris' sake.

Another word from the bridge kept floating back to him, another verbal spike the demon had thrown at Chris.

"_Calling on Daddy to save you, Christopher?"_

Leo had seen the wide eyed look that Chris had thrown his way when the demon spat that out. He hadn't been paying attention at the time, but he'd registered that something had happened. It had only been in the hours after the attack that he'd had the time to reflect on it, and remember what it was the demon had said. It had only been in those hours that he'd truly been able to study Chris, in the way he tossed onto his stomach when he slept, or the way his hand was curled across his ribs almost defensively.

He'd had the time to study Chris' face, the way he breathed, the way he'd muttered in his sleep. And as he watched, those words were at the tip of his tongue, screaming for an explanation. He'd even begun to explain it to himself.

He sighs like the sisters, he'd thought when Chris tossed and turned.

He tosses like Piper, he'd thought.

He placed his hands on Chris, forehead every so often, checking his own ability to heal, checking for a fever or infection. He'd noticed how Chris had almost flinched at the touch each time, and he deeply hoped he was wrong.

He deeply hoped that this scarred, neglected young man was not who the demon wanted him to believe.

He really hoped that this boy, the one who was so obviously used to going it alone, wasn't what he was thinking.

He really really hoped that the kind of future that created someone so used to lying injured and guarded wasn't a product of his doing.

He desperately hoped that this untrusting, suspicious fighter wasn't like that because of him.

But the more he'd stared down at him, the more time he'd spent guarding him, it began to make sense.

Suddenly the secrecy and the manipulation made sense. His seemingly intimate knowledge of the house and the sisters made sense. Even, much as he hated thinking it, his distrust of Leo could make sense.

Leo sighed. He twisted the blanket in his nervous hands and looked around this empty, emotionless room and felt his heart break a little. He was beginning to understand what he'd missed. He felt liked he'd been slapped in the face, and deserved it for missing something this big, this important, that was so _obvious_.

He screwed his eyes shut and pictured Chris, bloodied head lying across Leo's shoulder. He pictured Chris' hands gripped onto his wrists for everything he was worth, and he pictured himself squeezing back.

And he pictured laying Chris down on Piper's bed, filled with concern for this _kid. _He remembered his mind wrestling with itself for hours, and replayed it coming to one final thought.

_Are you my son?_

At that moment, he'd wanted to shake Chris awake and demand and answer then and there. He'd wanted to say no, no you aren't because that would mean I was the asshole who made you into this _machine. _

He'd wanted Chris to say yes, yes I am because it would have meant he'd brought up a son who would love his family so much, he'd sacrifice his life for them.

He wanted Chris to say no, no I'm not because I hate you, and Leo didn't even want to begin to understand what that meant if he was his _father_.

He desperately wanted Chris to say no, because Leo remembered he said he didn't have a family, and in that moment that thought scared Leo because everything was so unknown, and he didn't know how to be there for the kid, when he probably hadn't been for years.

He badly wanted Chris to say no, because from every angle Leo looked from, Chris had a crappy life. Which meant Leo had been a crappy father, and he couldn't begin to understand how that could even happen.

But he badly wanted Chris to yell at him that yes, yes I am your son, because Chris was a good, decent person who was risking everything to save Leo's family. He wanted to believe that he'd had a part in raising a man like that, one who could and would survive against evil.

But he hadn't done anything in that room. Because he'd thought about the last few months, and the last few nights, and all the fights they'd had. He thought about all the distrust they'd shown for Chris, and how much they had mistreated him.

He didn't want to think of what that meant if Chris was his _son_. His _family_. His life and blood and legacy mixed into a broken young man.

So he'd laid an arm across Chris', he'd monitored his breathing, he'd watched him sleep, and he'd thought.

And he had sworn to himself that he would fix this. That it wouldn't come to this. He'd tightened his grip around Chris, in a desperate subconscious bid to protect him from anything he could.

And now, he sat in Chris' room on Chris bed and kept asking the same question.

_Are you my son?_

_XxxxX_

Leo tore his head from the wall behind it, forcing his eyes open at the soft sound of orbs. He tore his hand out of Chris' blanket and jumped up, preparing for a fight.

Instead he jumped in surprise. He backed down at the blue orbs forming in front of him, and swallowed a gulp, seeing the weakness and slowness of the orb. He wasn't surprised to see Chris' form sway slightly in front of him, and he reached a hand out to steady him. Chris almost fell in surprise, and obvious weariness.

"What are you doing here," he asked suspiciously.

"You should be asleep," Leo stated, trying to hide his new nervousness.

Chris looked at him through glassy eyes. "I know. I just didn't want to have everyone's eyes on me."

He swallowed nervously under Leo's gaze, and Leo could see the same steely indifference from before the attack beginning to creep back. He put a hand on each one of Chris' shoulders. 'Go back to sleep," he ordered. "I can feel your exhaustion."

Chris brought his eyes up to meet Leo's almost daring him to boss him. Leo sighed, willing Chris' stubbornness and independence to go away.

"You may as well sleep, because I'm not going anywhere." Leo glared down at Chris, still hanging on to him.

Chris glared his disapproval. Leo had the feeling it was more to do with Chris feeling so open and vulnerable than any actually protest to sleep. He pointed towards the bed, silently ordering Chris to rest.

Chris kept on glaring at Leo, debating between rest and being stubborn. Stubbornness caved.

He shuffled his way to the bed, laying himself gingerly across the mattress.

"You would have been more comfortable at the manor you know," Leo said.

Chris groaned. He didn't want to be at the manor. He was still barely aware of the last 24 hours, and he was even less aware of what had happened on the bridge, but he was aware enough to know it could change their relationships. He wanted to stay distant; because that was the only way he was going to be able to stand this.

"Chris?" he could feel Leo sit on the bed next to his arm. He groaned again, almost unconsciously, and buried himself into his pillow, nestled against the wall.

"I'm just fine here," he mumbled to Leo, willing him to go away. Leo didn't though, and instead reached his hand towards Chris' forehead, again checking for fever.

Leo felt Chris try to move away from his hand, but he was too exhausted to do more than stir. "I'm not sure the healing worked completely," Leo said. Chris didn't respond.

Leo let his hand hover over Chris' shoulder.

_Are you my son?_

"Chris?"

He got a mumbled reply. He could feel Chris' body sinking further into the bed, losing himself to sleep.

_Are you my son?_

"I'm not leaving," he said.

Another mumbled reply.

Leo felt his hand still waver. He drew it back than put it forward again.

_Are you my son?_

Leo finally laid a gentle hand on Chris' stilling form.

"I mean it, Chris," his voice almost whispered.

He got no reply, only the rise and fall of Chris' chest.

He moved himself to the chair across from the bed, keeping an eye on the tired form in front of him. His heart constricted. He rubbed weary hands through his short hair, and felt worry rush over him. This was not supposed to have happened.

_Are you my son?_

Chris was supposed to be at the manor. He really wished he'd stayed at the manor.

Leo thought he should tell the girls, knowing Piper was probably asleep in the chair next to Chris' resting place.

He didn't leave though. He said he wouldn't. He couldn't bring himself to.

_Are you my son?_

He sighed.

And thought.

And fought the urge to shake Chris awake and demand.

And he kept asking himself the question.

_Are you my son?_

XxxxxX

Told you I'd keep going! There was some (mild) plot development this chapter, and I shall attempt some more next time. I really want to make sure this develops slowly enough to be believable, without making them out to be downright stupid. Suggestions please! I'm a little rusty, after all.


	12. Chapter 12

Chris didn't understand how people were interacting with him normally today. He didn't understand why people were smiling at him, and acting friendly. He didn't understand why people weren't noticing it, because today, he was missing parts.

He felt like he'd gone to bed as a person and woken up as a collection of spare parts. Like he'd just discovered he'd been thrown together with those parts, but they'd forgotten too many of the vital ones. The life giving ones. The ones that make you a normal human being.

He felt like there was a space in his chest. A giant hole, right in the middle, that was cracking the rest of him apart. He felt like he needed to scream at people that he wasn't whole anymore, because nobody seemed to be seeing the crack.

But it was so blindingly, painfully, desperately _obvious_.

He sighed, running his hands through the grass beneath his hands. People hadn't been interacting normally, he reasoned. People had been acting decidedly un-normally the last 24 hours.

"Hi Chris,"

Chris whipped his head up as Piper wandered towards him, giving a weary smile in return.

He was sitting in the Manor's backyard, as far away from everyone as he could get without somebody chasing him down and demanding things.

He had needed the afternoon light to regroup. He needed it to begin collecting his missing parts again. He needed it to sweep away the eggshells they'd all been walking on. He'd needed it to walk away from the looks on everybody's faces. He needed it to stop like a little lost kid again.

He needed it to walk away from Leo and his hovering.

He needed it.

"There's food. If you want some,"

Piper's voice was hesitant. She didn't know at what level of _nice_, Chris would shut her out. She was having the most success with him today. Everyone seemed to be looking at him like he would break in a good breeze. She didn't want to think that though. Or treat him like that. So she had been given the task of interacting with him.

She felt like she had a wounded animal wandering through her house. A large, dangerous, hurt animal that was stuck in a cage and didn't like it.

When she watched him shuffle his way outside earlier, she'd said nothing. She swore she had felt the frustration rolling off his skin. He was being watched. He was being taken care of, involuntarily, and couldn't stand it.

She'd watched the slow, weary way he moved today. She figured if he felt like taking care of himself, he wasn't really up to it. She figured that was why he was still there, and hadn't orbed away today. She knew Chris today would not be the Chris they knew. As soon as Leo had told her about orbing him back to the manor last night, and the fact he had _stayed_, she knew this would be a different kind of day.

As much as it was now her task to interact with Chris, the others were still concerned. Leo hadn't left the house today, except to follow Chris. He may not have been talking with Chris, but he was a silent presence, always in the closest room to Chris, always one step away. Just in case.

Piper figured Chris wasn't up to the fight that orbing away would bring. Leo would find him, and bring him back and she knew Chris knew it. She also knew that Leo wouldn't stick to the next room after that. He'd be right beside him, probably with a hand on Chris' shoulder to make damn sure he couldn't orb away again.

"It's in the kitchen, whenever you're ready,"

She understood Leo. Chris had closed his eyes in the sun, sinking deep into the tree behind him. This was the most relaxed she had ever seen him. That, she reasoned, was a bad sign. Chris was not a relaxed person. Chris was energetic and frantic and neurotic and absolutely not relaxed. A relaxed Chris was a _hurt_ Chris and she pretty badly wanted that to be over.

She thinks Leo had been right last night. The healing hadn't worked. Either the healing hadn't worked, or Chris was so tired and exhausted he was close to dead.

She watched and waited, willing him to get up and follow her back.

"I'll be right behind you," he said.

She gave him a tight smile back, hovering just a little where she was. She paused for a moment before nodding and turning back to the house. He either would eat, or he wouldn't. Nothing she said would impact that.

She smiled higher when she heard the scrape of gravel, and the sound of footsteps behind her.

XxxX

"Leo."

Leo's mind caught the words, bringing him back to room.

"Yeah. Sorry," he threw.

"You've been staring at me for a good 20 minutes. It's a little creepy, you know," Chris' voice sounded strained.

Leo cleared his throat and looked away. He quickly brought his eyes back when Chris returned his to the book in front of him. This was the first time all day Chris had stayed in the room when Leo entered. Leo figured it was Chris' warped version of an apology. At least, it was as close to an apology as he would get.

So the first chance he had to survey a wakeful Chris, he took it. He'd been thinking the same thoughts be had been last night, and they were only getting stronger.

He jumped a little when Piper had been interacting with Chris earlier. He'd seen the calmness that Chris displayed in front of her. He'd never noticed that he treated her a little differently. Now that he was looking for it, it was painfully obvious.

He backed away from her a little more than the others, gave in much easier when she was involved. He was on guard when she entered a room, and fell a little flat when she exited. He was always, always, letting her win.

Leo was pretty sure it meant he was right.

"He's my son," he thought as his eyes burrowed into Chris. He had kept his eyes on him as Chris fluttered his eyes open and closed, exhaustion seeping through his pores. Leo had kept his eyes on him as he tried to concentrate, and failed. Leo had kept his eyes on him as he shook a little from the cold that nobody else felt.

Leo was pretty sure it meant that he was right, again. He needed healing again. That, or he needed to be locked in a bedroom and let sleep for two weeks.

Leo thought he could probably do with both. Maybe a decent meal and a thank you, too.

Leo had watched him fall asleep last night, watching him as he was now.

He hadn't been able to stand sitting there and pretending like what was happening was insignificant. He wouldn't allow it.

So he'd orbed Chris back to the manor, because if he was right, it's where Chris really belonged anyway. He took him right back to Piper's bedroom, where Piper was still curled into an arm chair, oblivious to the empty bed. He'd settled Chris back on the bed and settled himself on to the floor. There was no way Chris was orbing away again. There was no way Leo wasn't going to take care of him at that moment.

When Chris had woken up, it was still pitch black. Leo had been awake, anxious about this very moment. Chris had been groggy and slow, resting his head in his hands. Leo remembered how his heart had been jumping out of his chest when he'd reached towards Chris. He put an arm on his shoulder and another on his forehead, feeling the burning heat.

"You're back at the manor," he whispered. "Go back to sleep."

Chris had groaned and clutched his head, resting a little into the hand on his head. He was too sore and tired to register where he was, and Leo was grateful for it.

Leo had tried healing the headache then, but he'd met resistance. He had sighed. He didn't want to wake him up fully to heal a headache, only for Chris to orb away and get hurt again. He'd let Chris fall back asleep, deciding they would have that fight in the morning.

When Chris had really woken up late the next day, everyone had convinced themselves it was worth making him stay around. Leo had argued with the sisters, telling them his fears about the healing. He would chase Chris around all day if he needed to, but he would bring him back here. To keep him safe.

The sisters had expected much more of a fight than they got. Chris's groggy, almost accepting, reaction had convinced them that he really wasn't healed. Though it was the reaction he'd wanted, even Leo's concerned deepened at the lack of fight Chris had put up.

Chris had orbed once, back to his room at P3. Leo had orbed after him and found Chris leaning on his wall, desperate for more rest. He hadn't said anything, simply put a hand on his shoulder and orbed him back.

He thought Chris was too deeply exhausted to be able to fight anymore.

"_This has been coming for a while_," he decided. All the demon fights, and fights with them. He'd been protecting himself for too long and he'd let something slip. In all the panic to protect them all, he'd forgotten, maybe hadn't ever learnt, he had to take care of himself.

It made Leo's heart ache even more, and he'd watched Chris all day wondering about it. Chris had been attempting to concentrate on the Book of Shadows earlier in the day, but he'd given up even that pretence.

Leo had walked into the lounge earlier and came to a dead stop. He'd seen Chris, curled across the couch, eyes barely open to watch the tv. Wyatt was standing next to him, eyes switching between Chris and the dancing on screen. He was giggling every time he looked back at Chris, reaching a hand to Chris.

Chris's arm had slowly reached back out to Wyatt as a grin spread across his face. Leo had watched him as he grasped Wyatt's hand and played with it in that small space, mimicking the children's dance on tv. Leo dared not move and end their play. The unguarded joy that spread across Wyatt's face had infected Chris, a joy Leo hadn't ever seen on his face.

_'Will I ever play with you like that_, _Chris_" he wondered.

When Wyatt had settled down, Leo had announced himself in the room. Chris barely moved his head, giving him a tiny smile. It was something at least, Leo had thought. He didn't leave the room, as he'd been doing with most of them today. So Leo stayed, and settled himself into the chair across from Chris.

They'd stayed like that for some time, until Chris called him on his staring. It didn't matter though, because Chris was much closer to asleep than awake now. He hadn't been talking so much as mumbling, and there was no menace in his voice. It was just a tired observation, made in an effort to stay awake.

He was losing that battle though. Leo could clearly see it. Chris was slumping so far into the couch, he was almost lying down. He never would though, not with Leo there. Leo didn't care. He got up and crossed the small space between himself and Chris, bending down to his level.

"Chris?"

He got a murmur in response. That was enough of an answer for him.

"Right now, I'm going to orb you to a bed. You need it, and don't pretend you don't. Something's wrong, and I don't know whether it was the healing, or whether you were too stupid to take care of yourself."

His hands were shaking, filled with anger. He was angry at Chris.

"And when you wake up next time, you and I are having a talk. A nice, long, meaningful talk about all the things that people do to look after themselves. And their families."

Chris had cracked his eyes open at that and stared at Leo. Leo saw the spark of panic in Chris' eyes, but he didn't care. This was not something that should be panicked about.

"Especially their families," he said, eyes locked onto Chris.

He held his gaze for a second before Chris shut his eyes against the tiredness. And maybe, against him, Leo thought.

He reached a hand out and grasped Chris' shoulder firmly, squeezing it before he orbed Chris upstairs. He made sure Chris reached the bed, before stepping back. The afternoon light was seeping through a window as Chris sunk into the bed. Chris wouldn't stay awake for long in that environment, Leo thought.

He put his hand on Chris' arm, bending down to his level. Chris was barely awake.

"You and I _are_ going to talk," he said.

I really want to talk," he whispered, squeezing the arm beneath his own.

He got no response. He grazed a hand over Chris' forehead, swallowing and walking out.

They would handle this when Chris was awake. They _would_ be talking, he thought.

XxxxX

Ok. So, some more very minor plot development. The next chapter shall involve much, much more. There'll be talks and fights. Maybe some tears. Who knows.. But it'll be fun. Let me know what you like! Or don't.


	13. Chapter 13

Chris shot up in bed, arms shaking a little. His forehead had a sheen of sweat, and he could feel the odd coldness that meant a fever creeping through his torso.

He gripped the blanket beneath his hands, breathing hard to gain some control. He felt flashes of pain move across his ribs and through his head, explaining why he woke up.

He slowly lifted the blanket and moved his legs over the side of the bed, firmly planting them on the floor. He dropped his head in to his hands, massaging his temples.

It was becoming painfully obvious to Chris the healing hadn't worked. He closed his eyes and saw flashes of the Golden Gate Bridge. He remembered slamming into some of the supports a few times, and he could bruises where his ribs had collided with metal.

He rubbed his hands over his face and through his hair before he looked around the room. He felt panic rise a little when he realised this wasn't his room at the club. But then he remembered yesterday, and Leo. He remembered feeling wiped out yesterday, and being forced to bed in the afternoon.

He looked over at the window. It was pitch black now, in the dead of night. He must have slept right through the evening and into the early morning, he reasoned. The manor was silent.

He shakily got to his feet and headed towards the door. He needed something for the pain. Tylenol if they had it, maybe Leo if they didn't.

He paused in the hall, leaning heavily on to the wall. He closed his eyes and rested his cheek against the wall. He began to panic a little. He'd done nothing but rest for the last day. He should be able to walk down the hall, whether the healing had worked or not.

He began to think that maybe something else was at play here. He lurched again down the hall, heading for the kitchen downstairs.

He'd never moved so slowly in his life. He had to remind himself to put one foot in front of the other and _move_.

He moved his way downstairs and wandered into the kitchen. He launched himself into a seat and laid his head across the table. His head felt clouded, like he could only see half of his thoughts.

"Chris?"

Chris shot up in surprise. He turned his head and saw Leo casually leaning in the door way. He frowned. He should have heard him before that. He was getting rusty.

"Yea," he breathed out heavily, laying his head back down, facing Leo.

Leo didn't say anything. His eyes were squarely on Chris though. He stayed in the doorway, arching an eyebrow at Chris.

"Couldn't sleep," Chris said. Leo didn't lose the look on his face.

"Had a headache," Chris continued. The way Leo was looking at him made him feel like he needed an excuse, like he had done something wrong by being in the kitchen.

Leo still didn't say anything, and instead walked towards Chris and placed a cool hand on his forehead. Relief spread from Leo's hand through Chris' head, and he closed his eyes, leaning into the hand, unable to hide his hurt. He didn't really realise how much his head hurt until it didn't.

'Chris," Leo's voice was soft and gentle, absolutely different to how Chris normally heard it. There was worry there that hadn't been there before, even this morning.

Chris nodded, anticipating what he was going to say.

"Yea," he sighed. "I don't think the healing worked either," he said.

Leo tilted his head to one side, eyes still boring in to him. "We need to find that demon," he stated. "Fix whatever it is he's done."

Chris nodded his head, eyes still closed. Leo had finished healing for now, and moved to sit across from Chris.

"Ah,"

Leo's voice trailed off, and Chris tilted his head to look at him.

"There was something else I wanted to talk to you about actually," he said.

Chris burrowed his eyebrows, trying to think of what was wrong. We're they kicking him out again? He didn't think so. Maybe they were going to force him to stay there until he was better again. That seemed more reasonable he thought.

He remembered Leo orbing him to a bed yesterday, saying things about _talking_. He didn't feel like getting into an argument, not right now. He just wanted to go back upstairs.

He looked at Leo again, trying to read his face. He couldn't.

"Can it wait?" he asked, moving to get up.

Leo stared at him, that same scrutinizing stare from before.

"Not really."

XxxxX

Leo felt like a bastard. Chris was hurt, that was obvious. He was exhausted, that was even more obvious.

He'd been in the lounge, deep in thought, when he'd heard sounds from the kitchen. He'd stood in the doorway as Chris had shuffled in, making a beeline for the nearest chair. Leo had never seen him so slow before. His heart ached for him again, for the umpteenth time that day.

Just like Leo had suspected, Chris had a fever. Leo had felt the heat radiating from him when he'd healed him. His brow had furrowed when the heat didn't go away like it should have after he healed the headache.

Leo looked at Chris now, and he felt like a bastard. Chris was standing slightly, waiting for Leo to respond. Leo was surprised he hadn't just walked out of the room. Normally he would have. But this was a slower, less guarded Chris. One who stayed in the room, because he was too hurt to know he shouldn't.

Leo was going to take full advantage of that. And it made him feel like a bastard.

"Sit down Chris," he said. He swallowed his guilt and gestured to the chair.

Chris looked at him for a long while, but he sat down.

_You should wait to do this, till he's stronger _Leo's conscious nagged at him. No, he thought. He'll never give me a straight answer. Ask now, he thought. While his guard is down and he might tell the truth.

Leo looked at Chris and tried to give a comforting smile.

"Do you want something to drink?" he asked. "To help you sleep?" Leo was avoiding it now.

Chris gave a tiny shake of his head. "What is it, Leo?" he said quietly.

Leo swallowed the lump in his throat. He coughed. He looked at Chris, straight into his eyes. Piper's eyes. And he finally spat it out.

"Uh," he cleared his throat again. "What do you remember of what happened on the bridge?" he asked gently.

Chris looked at him for a long while before he answered. His eyes darted around the room. He had a confused look splashed across his face, like he was really trying to remember.

"Not a lot," he said finally. "I remember when the demon first showed up. I remember you showing up. And then I remember you trying to heal me," he looked at Leo. He looked guilty, like he felt he should remember more.

"Chris," Leo said. "You were badly hurt," he punched each word into the air. "I'm surprised that you have the ability to remember that much."

Chris looked down, tracing a pattern on the table. He was hunched in on himself, hurt muscles pronouncing themselves to the world.

Leo cleared his throat and continued. "The demon seemed to know you," he said, searchingly.

The confused look came back to Chris' face. Leo really felt like a bastard. Chris really didn't know what was coming.

"He asked you some questions," he tried to lead Chris to his own conclusion, not succeeding in the least.

"Oh," Chris said, not understanding at all.

"He asked me some questions too."

Chris' eyebrows furrowed. A worried look spread across his face, not quite sure why it was there. "I don't remember that," he said.

"Yea," Leo breathed out, looking down. "You were kind of out of it," he said.

"Uh, so." Leo kept clearing his throat. He, uh, knew you."

"A lot of demons know me," he stated. Leo could see he was going to have to blurt it out.

"He knew _about_ you. You, from the future," he said.

Chris stared at Leo. "Oh," he said. The possibilities of that hadn't dawned on his tired, befuddled mind yet.

Leo felt his chest tear itself in different directions. You should never kick someone when they're down, he thought. He clenched his hands, holding himself back. He wanted to get up, walk over to Chris and engulf him in a bear hug. He was so _young_ right now. This kid in front of him right now didn't deserve to be exploited for information, not like Leo was doing. The kid in front of him needed someone to hunt that demon down and save his life. He didn't need this, not right now.

Leo pressed on anyway. Otherwise, he never would.

"Chris," he punched his name out. "Are you.." Chris was looking up at him with wide eyes, worry sprawled all across his face.

"Are you my. Are you _our.._" he stopped, throat threatening to close. He quickly blinked the sheen away from his eyes.

He cleared his throat again, eyes boring in to Chris' face.

"I need you to not lie to me here, Chris. Please," he stated.

Chris said nothing, hands still following a pattern into the table. He wouldn't look at Leo.

"Chris," his voice begged a little. "Look at me," he said.

Chris' head slowly dragged itself up, eyes still looking down. Leo brought his eyes down to meet Chris'.

"Me and Piper.. uh. The demon said.."

"Are you our son?"He finally got out. "Me and Piper, are you our son?" His voice was heavy and desperate, laced with fifteen different emotions, He was glad the room was mostly dark. He felt a heavy drop fall past his cheekbone.

Chris wouldn't look at him, but his hand had stopped following the pattern. Leo could see the shake that had taken over Chris' hands now.

Leo watched him as he opened his mouth a few times. He said nothing, though. Leo could see a heavy drop pass Chris' own cheekbones.

Chris brought a hand up to his head, cradling one side, hand tangling in to his hair. The shake had spread to his shoulders. _God, _Leo felt his lungs tighten. He was a goddamn bastard, he thought.

"Chris," Leo whispered, drawing his name out.

Chris shook his head violently. "Please," he whispered back. "Don't" he punched in to the air, quietly.

Leo shook his own head. "No, Chris," he said. "You can't bury something like this."

"Are we your parents?' he continued. "Is that why you came back?" his voice was low and gentle.

Leo had brought his head down, looking up at Chris' lowered face. Chris was concentrating solely on his own hand. Leo could see him swallow the lump in his throat.

They sat there for what felt like a lifetime, neither one moving or making a sound. Leo kept his eyes on Chris, who kept his eyes on his hand. He kept his head cradled in one hand, still shaking. Leo could feel his heart beating faster, wrenching at the vulnerable kid in front of him.

And then he saw a tiny nod. Lo moved his head up, inching closer. "Chris,' he said.

And a nod again. "Yeah," came the soft, shaky answer. A slow, small nod followed a sniffle. Leo could see the water threatening to break over Chris' eyes.

"That's why it's me. Not someone else. I knew you all better. I was the best person." The tears were flowing down his face now. They made Leo want to run away and stop the pain he was causing.

Chris had hunched further in to himself. Leo looked him over again. He had placed the back of his hand against his cheek, leaning into to it. His eyes were half closed. Leo reached a hand across the table, laying his own hand against Chris' face. He ignored the way Chris jumped at the touch.

The heat was radiating off him. All he had done was sleep, and he looked like he needed weeks more. He still had a shake to him, and leaning heavily on the table.

Leo couldn't help himself.

He moved his hand back and launched himself up from the table. He crossed the few steps between himself and Chris, laying a hand across his shoulder. Chris still hadn't looked at him.

Next thing Chris knew, Leo had pulled him into a tight bear hug. It was one of those hug that are full of desperation, like the other person isn't ever going to let go. It was a hug that family gave to their own. Chris could feel the warmth spread through his chest. It made him groggy and relaxed. He didn't have enough awareness to be horrified. This was one of those moments in his life where his mind was barely operating enough only to register that this was warm and comfortable and _helping_. It was nowhere near able to register that this was a moment he'd never wanted. It didn't matter.

Leo didn't let go. He said something to Chris, but he couldn't really hear. It didn't matter. This felt nice. It felt _safe_. He hadn't felt like that for a long while.

He was fading, in this warmth. It made the blankness edge around his mind, and the longer he was in it, the more blankness won. Soon, it was taking over completely, like it had last night and the day before, when he was healed. He had enough time to think; maybe he should stay awake, and fight this. That moment faded.

Leo felt Chris sink into his arms. He'd been hoping for this. Hoping that Chris was close enough to out of it that the warmth and closeness would send him asleep. Hoping that Chris would let him do this, because he needed it as much as Chris did.

He was _right_. This hurt, vulnerable, brave young man was his _son_. He looked at the head on his shoulders, and he squeezed his arms tighter around him. He breathed hard, letting it hit him that he was _right_.

_He's my god damn son_, he thought.

My son, he thought.

_My_ son. He squeezed harder.

Leo orbed him back to the bedroom, laying him gently on the bed for the third time in two days. He kept a hand on his chest, feeling the heart beat. Heat was still rolling off Chris and Leo felt his heart constrict again.

He's my _hurt_ son, he thought.

God.

Oh God, he thought.

He's my _son_. He breathed in and out, hard. All the implications of that were beginning to hit him.

He had to find this demon first. To heal his _son_.

He kept thinking it over and over, as Chris heart beat beneath his hands. The heart beat that he had helped to create. That he had presumably helped to keep going over the years.

Not for the last few years, he thought. Not the way he acts.

He looked across Chris' face. The Halliwell features were there, like a roadmap.

He would fix this, he thought. They would do better than this.

They had to do better than this, he thought.

But he had to do something first.

He had to tell Piper.

XxxxX

So. EH. Too mushy? Feedback would be greatly appreciated on this one. It seems a little contrived, and then it seems cute, and then it seems really great. Then it seems just silly. Please let me know .


	14. Chapter 14

"Leo?"

Chris' voice was soft and hesitant. He leant against the door frame, refusing to take a step in to the room.

Leo gave him a long look, eyebrows raised before he responded.

"Yeah?" he said. His own voice was nervous. There should be a new dynamic between them, Leo had thought. But he couldn't feel one.

"Can you, uh, orb me back to P3 please?" Chris' voice low and drawn out.

Leo sighed, running his hands through his hair. He looked at Chris, wanting to scream. Looking after Chris, he'd decided, was ten times more frustrating than looking after Wyatt. This morning, Chris had very quickly found he didn't have enough energy to orb, and he'd been a silently sulking in the house since.

Leo opened his mouth, ready to protest, when Chris jumped in again.

"I'm not asking to run away or anything, but I need my stuff. I can't sleep in jeans forever," he said.

Leo looked down at the jeans he was wearing, swallowing the protest in his throat.

"I already asked Paige. She said I needed to come to you. So, please," Chris said

Leo nodded.

"Ok. We'll go now, before dinner."

XxX

Leo wandered through P3 as Chris gathered his clothes. He had wanted to stay in the room, but the glare Chris had given him sent him out pretty quickly.

He sighed, running his hands over the bar. Leo had hoped that today, Chris would have been different. More open. More vulnerable. Like he had been last night.

His hopes were short lived. The only thing different about today was how much _less_ Leo had seen Chris.

He wandered back over to the room, knocking softly on the door. They needed to leave soon. He didn't hear an answer, so he gently cracked the door open and poked his head in.

"Chris," he called. His stopped mid-word when he turned to the lounge.

Chris had sunk into it, laying his head against the wall, eyes closed. He had changed into a soft t-shirt and shorts that hung off his frame. Leo's heart skipped a beat. Out of his rough jeans and jacket, he looked very young. And very hurt.

Leo could see bruises reaching up to his neck, and winced. There was a slight sheen across his forehead that had Leo concerned.

"Chris," he called again. Chris' eyes shot open and caught Leo's

Chris sat still for a moment before launching himself off the lounge. Leo spread an arm towards his shoulder, afraid he might fall. Leo gave him a small smile.

"We need to go," he said gently.

_Yea, we need to go home and search that Book back to front to find out what the hell is happening to you, _Leo thought.

XxX

Blue orbs appeared in the Manor's lounge room as Chris and Leo orbed back in. Leo and Chris paused in the room for seconds before Leo took a hand of the young man's shoulder.

Chris dumped his bag on the floor and headed straight for the couch, rolling into it with his back shoved against the cushion. Even after that short trip, his muscles ached. There was a weariness setting in to his muscles that was scaring him.

He knew there was no chance this was a normal illness. Not the way he felt. Not the way Leo looked at him. Not the way the sisters looked at him.

He closed his eyes and laid a cool head across his face. He felt shaky and hot and he wanted it to stop, _now_.

He wanted very much to crawl into a ball and not come out until this was over. He wanted someone to take care of him until it was over.

He wanted two very specific _someones_ to take care of him. They were both dead, so it didn't matter.

_One of them isn't dead, _he thought.

_Not yet._

XxX

Leo lowered himself on to the coffee table in front of Chris. He reached a hand out to his flushed face, feeling the fever.

Chris was awake, but with his eyes closed he didn't seem to register that Leo was there. Leo frowned, watching Chris' torso shiver.

"Leo?" Phoebe's voice came from the doorway.

He kept his eyes on Chris for one more moment before looking at her.

"Get the Book," he said determinedly.

"Leo?" her voice was worried.

"Get Paige and Piper, and then get the Book," he stated. "I think I know what's going on."

XxX

Chris didn't know where he was. He couldn't see anything. He couldn't hear anything. He couldn't remember anything.

He couldn't remember who he was supposed to be.

But he could feel. Boy, could he feel.

All he knew was that there was heat rolling off his skin and it _hurt_. The more the burning hurt, the less he could think. The less he could think, the less he could remember who he was.

He could feel a shake to his arm that he couldn't control. He could feel a cloud moving through his head that knew he should fight. But once he started fighting the cloud, he had to stop fighting the heat and there was no way he could do that.

Something touches his arm, and all of a sudden it's chilled to the bone. Under the hand shaped coldness on his arm, the burning slows and he leans into it, begging for it to spread to the rest of him.

Suddenly he remembers that this hand is important, that it belongs to _family_.

"Mo.." he begins to mumble.

But he stops. Because the coldness has him remembering all sorts of things, all about the woman with the cooling hand. About how his _family_ isn't really and his _mom _has no idea.

But he still leans into the coldness because he thinks he's gonna need it to keep his humanity. Because the cloud taking over his head has a certain demonic feel to it that's scaring Chris way more than the fever.

Next thing he knows, he's being rushed up into sitting, and then the coldness is behind him. There's a hand on his chest now, and he thinks he hears something about _breathing_. He's stopped listening though, because he's being pulled against a different kind of coldness. One that still screams family. And now he's remembering all sorts of things about future dads who don't care and past dads who kind of do.

That's scaring him almost as much as the demons in his head.

XxxX

Piper crocked open the door, towels tossed over her shoulder and juice in her hand. She's hesitant to walk in to her own bedroom, but she's the one that insisted Chris stay here.

It's got the ensuite, and it would be better for all of them if he could have his own bathroom she had argued. It had nothing to do with her own guilt, nothing at all. So she was telling herself.

She walked up to the bed, watching the shake in Chris' hand. He had his eyes closed, but he wasn't resting. She could see that in the way his face twitched, and his muscles tensed.

She remembered the book had said physical contact would help, so she laid a hand across his arm. She winced at the heat that was rolling off of him, and she squeezed his arm a little in sympathy. She was surprised when he rolled towards her.

She heard him mumble something, so she placed another hand on his arm, waiting for him to say something again.

She turned her head towards the hall, as Leo and Phoebe appeared in the doorway. Phoebe marched in, Leo a heartbeat behind her.

"I talked to the Elders," he said. "It's exactly what we thought."

Piper tightened her hand around Chris' arm. "And?" she replied.

Phoebe spoke up, picking up the abandoned towels next to the bed.

"We do like the book says, and treat it like a normal fever. Cold compresses, plenty of water, plenty of rest," she stated.

Piper looked at her, jaw open.

"That's all we've got?" she demanded. "Cold compresses?" "He's going through hell, literally, and all we've got are cold compresses," her voice was raising.

Leo spread his hands out, looking across at her. "The book said that talking to them will help them remember. Physical contact, conversations, even sleeping in here will help," he said.

"We just gotta do everything we can to make sure he knows that this isn't permanent," he smiled grimly at her.

"To make him remember? That he's not a demon? Well, if that's all," she threw her hands up sarcastically.

Phoebe re-emerged from the bathroom, with damp towels dripping in her arms.

"It might not be much, but it's all we've got, Piper," she implored. She walked over to Chris and laid a towel across his sweat soaked face, watching him shiver against the coldness.

"We need to take watches. If our best defence is talking to him, then we need to make sure someone is with him, all the time," Phoebe sighed.

Piper looked across at her on the other side of Chris bed and nodded. "I'll go now," she said. "You two can sort out with Paige what we're going to do after that."

"No," Leo's voice came out hard.

Both sisters looked at him with raised eyebrows. He looked down, rubbing a nervous hand through his hair.

"I just think you guys need some rest, after everything that's happened today," he muttered.

They kept looking at him. "I really would like to go first," he said.

Despite raised eyebrows, they both nodded. "Ok," Piper said. "We'll be downstairs, I guess," she said.

She and Phoebe grasped his arm as they walked out, giving him silent nods of support. As Piper's feet shuffled out the door, Phoebe's voice floated towards him.

"You've been worrying over him a lot, recently Leo," she said. "Everything ok?"

Leo looked over at her face, her eyebrows raised as her mouth set into a frown.

"Everything is fine, Phoebe," he smiled. She didn't leave.

"I just, you know, feel a little guilty for the way we acted. I think we should have been more trusting, you know?" he continues, seeing her need for an explanation.

She smiled ruefully at him. "You aren't the only one," she said. 'I think all of us are going on a bit of a guilt trip right now," she said.

He smiled back at her and turned back to Chris. He heard her soft steps as she left, shutting the heavy door behind her. He sighed. He didn't want her to know before Piper did.

Leo wandered over to the bed, re-positioning the towels. He sighed as he ran his eyes over Chris, taking in all the damage the demons had done.

The Elders had said that the best reminder of Chris' humanity would be other humans, so Leo bent over and wrapped his arms around Chris. He hauled him up until Leo had enough room to manoeuvre himself to sit behind him, and he settled himself against the backboard.

He pulled Chris back down' leaning him against his own chest. One leg was crossed under him and the other was firmly planted on the floor, steadying himself against Chris' weight. He could hear Chris' breath rattling through his lungs, and he placed a hand on top of his chest, checking the rise and fall of each breath.

"You need to breathe, for both of our sakes Chris," he whispered.

He kept a hand on across Chris' heart, re assuring himself that it was beating. He had no intention of moving for some time.

He found himself talking to Chris, asking questions he knew would not be answered. He found himself answering his own questions.

"When's you're birthday Chris?"

"I bet I know when," he continued, thinking of him and Piper and that night that he'd been dying.

"What's your favourite food? Piper's a great cook, you know," he said.

He laughed a little. "Yeah, you probably do know."

He kept talking about tiny little things, like sports teams and Wyatt's favourite toys. Talking, he thought, had become a weapon in bringing Chris back. And maybe in winning him over.

He kept on talking until he couldn't, until his voice was hoarse and his head lolled against the board behind it.

He'd closed his eyes for a few seconds when he heard the door creep open. He turned his head as someone creeped into the darkened room. He heard a whisper.

"Leo?" Phoebe's voice came floating to him. He looked down at Chris, and back through the darkness to the voice. He looked down again at Chris, feeling the heat again, and he clenched his hands.

"You can turn the light on, Phoebe," he whispered to her.

All of a sudden, the room was light again, and Phoebe was standing next to the door. She smiled at him. "Just coming to check on him," she said.

Leo looked at her, saying nothing. He'd had two chances to tell Piper today, but he didn't take either. He was at a loss for words, in a way that he hadn't ever been before.

"Come here a second Phoebe," he said. Phoebe had been the one to convince them all to trust Chris, after all. If anyone would understand, it would be the empath.

Phoebe wandered over, settling herself on to the end of the bed. She flitted a hand over Chris leg, settling it into a grasp. Leo had noticed they were all doing that now. Checking him. Taking care of him.

She smiled knowingly at him, eyes boring into his own. Chris was still leaning against him, and Leo suddenly felt very emotionally exposed.

"Spill," she stated. "I know you know something we don't. I can feel it," she said playfully.

Leo chuckled a little at her, settling his eyes across her face. He sighed.

"How much have you ever felt off Chris, empath wise?" he questioned.

She raised her eyebrows at him as she answered. "Not a great deal," she said. "When that whole mess with the future happened, I did. When he was being attacked by the demon, I felt a lot. I think he may have wanted us to that night though," she said.

Leo nodded, thinking.

"So, never other than that?" he asked "Never when he was just around the house with us, never on a demon hunt?"

She looked at him quizzically, shaking her hand. He looked down, brow furrowed.

"Leo?" she asked searchingly.

He didn't respond.

"Leo, what the hell is going on?" she asked again.

Leo looked up at her, guilt spread across his face. 'Phoebe," he implored. "_Look_ at him."

She raised her eyebrows again. He gave her a small, rueful smile.

"I mean, really, really look at him. Look at the way he acts around everybody. Like he's known us all his life. Look at the way he talks, the way he moves," his voice raised a little, angry at himself for never noticing.

"Phoebe, _look_ at him."

Phoebe looked did look at him then, for a long, silent minute. She frowned.

"Leo, I really have no idea what you're saying," she said. "I would like to understand, but I don't."

"Leo, spit it out. What is going on with Chris?"

Leo gave her a long, hard look. He swallowed the nervousness in his chest and willed his heart to beat normally.

"Promise not to tell Piper," he stated...

XxxX

Man, I am not proud of this chapter. It's not what I envisioned in my head. Stupid head.

I figured you had all waited long enough, so here it is. I'll probably pull it down and fix it up eventually, but I do not have enough hours in the day to get it right at the moment.

But, I got published for a few weeks. Like, in a newspaper kind of published. How exciting I had a decent excuse for the wait then, after all.

Thanks for sticking with the story after this trash of a chapter!


	15. Chapter 15

Now she knew what she was looking at, it was hard to believe they had all missed it for so long.

Phoebe couldn't believe Chris had been so close and they had missed it.

Her hand reached out to brush against Chris's arm and she felt the heat pulse through his skin. It was two hours after Leo had dropped the bombshell of all bombshells, and Chris was still lost to the world in his haze of demon fever.

She had kicked Leo out of the room about an hour ago and demanded he tell Piper and Paige.

Then she had decided she wanted to have Chris to herself for just a moment. Just a sliver of time before the rest of the house learned who he was.

As soon as Leo told her of the moment in the kitchen, she believed it with reserve or hesitation. She knew.

There was too much that fit for it to be a lie. Too much that made sense now where before it hadn't.

So Phoebe stole the few hours on watch with Chris to process what this new information meant. She stole those precious few hours, still pitch black outside, to process the fact that she had a brand new nephew while Leo worked up the courage to tell Piper.

They had agreed it needed to be done tonight. Like a bandaid. Do it quickly to minimise the pain.

He's probably telling them right now, Phoebe thought.

Phoebe knew her and Paige would have to step it up for Piper's sake. She was feeling her own heart break at how they had treated Chris, and she wasn't his mother.

He was going to hate this, she knew that.

Chris couldn't just orb away when it all got to emotional. That fight on the bridge had left him in another of the demon's traps, this one an almost-human fever that had been slowly attacking his body in the days since the fight.

The girls and Leo had only seen it when Chris refused to wake this afternoon, lost to the creeping heat that had sapped every once of strength and resolve he was left with after the bridge.

The elders had told them all they could do was fight it with time, cool towels and reminders to Chris that he was a person and not a demon.

Phoebe imagined this particular trick had driven mad or killed those victims that had managed to get away from one of the demon's initial attacks.

At that moment, she felt a shake under her head and heard a moan emanate from the bed.

She gripped on to Chris's arm, knowing physical touch from someone helped to ease the heat taking over Chris's body.

Phoebe wet a cloth and placed it across his forehead, looking for signs that he knew what was going on.

There was nothing. She knew he was dead to anything that wasn't the searing heat or the demonic cloud threatening the corners of his mind.

XxX

Chris cracked open his eyes. They were open barely enough to take in his surroundings but it's enough to drive slivers of pain back in to his mind. He shakes a little under the odd fever sensation that leaves him both cold and unbearably hot at the same time.

It was another ten minutes before he gets the nerves to crack his eyes open again. He can see its daylight. He thinks the pink bedspread might mean he's in Piper's room, but he's never been close enough to the girls to know those sort of details.

Chris moves his hand, just a little, just enough to see if he can. He twitches a finger and he thinks how desperately he wants a glass of water.

All of a sudden the feeling of _mom_ wraps around his wrist and there's a soft voice filling his surrounds.

He can't make out what the _mom_ voice is saying, but it's comfortable and makes him feel all of five years old and he's not adverse to a little comfort right now. That unbearable heat keeps stabbing at one part of his body and jumping to another but it hasn't touched his wrist since the _mom_ feeling grabbed a hold.

He cracks his eyes a little further so he's almost wide awake. Doesn't mean he's processing everything his eyes are taking in but its more control than he's had in the past day.

He tries to speak, but nothing comes out. Then the _mom_ hand is behind is back, pulling him to a sitting position. The hand on his wrist moves to his forehead and he can almost forgive the stabbing sensation that takes over his hand for the sweet relief that's taking over his face.

He speaks again, and this time manages to croak out the word water.

For a second, both _mom_ hands are gone and he almost loses it, but one is back on his forehand in a matter of seconds and the other is handing him a glass.

It takes him five minutes to decide he's got the strength to drink from it, bringing the glass ever so slowly up and sipping ever so slowly.

The sweet, cool trickle of water might just be the best thing he's ever tasted.

It turns out he's only got a few sips in him before he's begging for the glass to be taken away so he doesn't have to worry about controlling his muscles. The _mom_ voice takes it away, and he is forever grateful when the hand stays on his forehead.

He keeps his eyes open because as much as he'd like to sleep, that unbearable heat has other plans.

Next thing he knows the mom hands have backed away and the heat is taking over his face again. He groans.

"Chris," the _mom_ voice says. Then he remembers the mom voice has a name and isn't really his mom yet anyway.

He looks at her. Piper. He remembers that now. That _mom_ feeling belongs to Piper.

She smiles at him. He stares back at her. His mind isn't up to a lot of things right at this moment but he can process that that is not a joyous smile. She's wearing a face that is all sadness, down to the wetness gathering at the corner of her eyes.

He tries to give her a smile in return, to lighten the room. He's bad at emotional moments and he can feel one coming like a freight train. Even if he can't take more than a few sips of water, he's still aware enough to know that this Piper had never been so gentle with him.

"How are you feeling?" Piper says.

"Fine," he grunts. He planned to avoid that emotional moment for everything he's worth.

She snorts at him and he gives a smile back. That was stupid.

"Okay, so not fine," he says.

Truth be told, he still feels like he's five seconds away from being on fire but the cloud that was taking over his head is gone and now he can process things aside from that unbearable heat.

Compared to 24 hours ago, he feels on top of the world.

In the moment he was off with his thoughts, Piper has moved back to the bed and put a hand on his. He forgets all about Piper for a second and all he feels is _mom._

"I need to talk to you about something," she says.

Ah. That emotional moment. He thinks it's going to be a lecture about grief and not hunting demons, and it's not like he can go anywhere, so he nods at her.

"You and Leo already had this talk." There's a nervous edge to her voice and her grip tightens around his hand just a bit.

Leo? He doesn't remember a talk with Leo. He racks his brain and there's a wrinkle in his forehead before he remembers. The kitchen. Only days ago. Before the unbearable heat took over his body and that cloud with the demonic feeling began to sneak across his mind.

Shit. He remembers that conversation now. He's forming a fist under Piper's hand and can't bring himself to look past the pink bedspread because as horrible and hard as that conversation in the kitchen was? This is ten times harder.

That conversation tore him to pieces and there is no way he is doing that again.

He tries to feign innocence.

"No," he says. Not really sure what that's going to do, but hell, he'd do anything to avoid this moment right here.

Piper is bringing her eyes to his, which are now so wide-eyed it's like he never slept.

"Chris," she says softly.

Her hand tightens on his again. He would pull away if it weren't for the sweet relief spreading underneath her hand. That heat is still burning away.

He looks away and she says his name, low and gentle this time like he's an animal about to jump away. He sort of is.

"Leo told me," she said.

He can feel her examining his face and he knows she's looking for proof. Proof that he is her son. He thinks she might have found when her free hand latches on to his shoulder.

"Is it true?" she says, low and gentle again. He can't remember the last time he heard her voice this gentle.

There's a heavy silence. Neither of them gives, but neither of them back away.

His mind has gone back to those days when he was 14 and he didn't have her anymore. He screws his eyes shut but he knows that's not going to do much to drive away the mom in his head or the Piper in front of him.

He finds himself giving her the same tiny nod he gave Leo because when he's not remembering how this is Piper, all he can think about is how the hands on his arm and shoulder feel so much like his _mom._

He can feel her squeezing both hands again and he gives another tiny nod. He can feel her stare on him and he opens his eyes again but he can't quite bring them up to face her.

He can see her nodding back at him. He can see her sad smile and the wetness of her cheekbones. There's no bear hug like Leo though.

He's taken by surprise when both her hands are gone and he's so close to losing it again. But then that _mom_ feeling is snaking up his chest as Piper sits side by side, settling against the headrest and lowering an arm around Chris.

She's pulling him closer and for a surprised second he considers resisting, but the relief from the fever is too tempting. He leans into her as he feels a second hand rest on his arm.

His eyes are closed now and he doesn't want to open them for the world.

XxX

Piper had been sitting in her own room, feeling like an intruder, for what feels like an eternity. She's just staring at him, willing Chris to wake up so she can demand an answer.

She broke a vase when Leo told her. She remembers for a second everyone had stilled to make sure Chris (or Wyatt) hadn't woken at the noise. That was hours ago, when it was still pitch black.

Now it was late morning and Piper had been processing what Leo had told her. She didn't want to believe it, but he was right. There was too much right for it not to be true.

It's not that she didn't want Chris as a son. But she didn't want to believe that this Chris, this neurotic, jumpy Chris, was her doing. She always swore her children would have better. That they would be protected. It was pretty clear to her that Chris hadn't been protected for a long time.

Her mind stops racing for a second. She could have sworn she just saw Chris's eyes flutter. She stares at him intently but doesn't see anything.

It was there again. He was definitely opening his eyes now. Her shoulders lost a little of the stress they had been carrying all day as soon as she saw those striking dark eyes try to focus. He's been lost to this demon fever for too long and it's a relief to see him returning to the waking world.

And now she can have her answer.

Piper can see Chris is that much closer to consciousness when he moves his hand. It's not like the unsettled movements he had last night. This is controlled, not the movement of a sick body hunting for relief.

It takes two seconds before she is beside the bed and wrapping her hand around his wrist. His eyes open that little bit further, but she can see he isn't exactly alert.

He tries to say something and it gets caught in his torn-up throat. Her heart leaps as she helps him to sit up.

Piper moves away to grab some water and tries to ignore his shudder when she lets go. She's back in half a second, handing him a glass and putting a hand back on his overheated forehead.

It feels like a lifetime that they just sit there while he works up the strength to actually drink the water. He manages a few sips before his eyes tell her she needs to take the glass back.

Piper is surprised when those eyes stay open. Judging by the look on Chris's face, being awake isn't his first choice.

She's backed away now. "Chris," she says. Now or never, she's decided.

"How are you feeling?"

Those glassy eyes find her again. There's this look in them that says he's never been this hurt in his life.

"Fine," he croaks.

She snorts. He smiles.

"Okay, so not fine," he admits.

There's still that look in his eyes and she finds herself moving back to the bed and puts a hand on his.

"I need to talk to you about something," she says to him.

He looks at her a second with that broken look and he nods. He's got no idea what is about to happen. Leo was right. Chris is too hurt to know what he's walking into.

She's lost her nerve with that nod.

"You and Leo already had this talk," she says, stalling.

She can see the thoughts flash across his face as he tries to remember. She can almost feel the moment when his mind clears for long enough to remember the talk in the kitchen.

"No," he just says.

She's torn between laughing and crying at that.

Piper leans down, trying to draw his eyes to hers. He is wide-eyed and completely open because he's too sick to be otherwise.

"Chris," she says softly. She feels like she's got a sick lion in her room.

"Leo told me." She can't quite bring herself to say it but her eyes are dragging all over his face and can finally see the Halliwell that is all over it.

Her free hand latches on to his shoulder when she realises they have the same eyes.

She finds herself asking if its true, but there's no doubt left.

He says nothing for what feels like an age. But then he's screwing his eyes shut and giving her this tiny, tiny nod.

She squeezes his shoulder and she see's him nod again. Those eyes have opened and are searching her face for a reaction. She nods back at him and feels a little bit like she's just been hit by a car.

It takes her a moment before she has decided to just sit with him for a while. She needs to have him all to herself for a little while to process this.

Piper drags herself up to sit next to Chris and pretends not to notice the shudder once again when she lets go of him for just a second.

As she settles against the wall, she puts an arm around him and leans his too-hot face on to her shoulder. There's a moment of hesitation from him but he gives in. She thinks he desperately needs it.

She has decided this is how they're going to stay until they both feel a little bit better about the world.


	16. Chapter 16

It is true, I've emerged from my rock. Harassing me has worked to squeeze an actual chapter out of me. It will be done! I swear. Let me know what you think. I am planning on only one or two more chapters, this one is a bit low on actual development, but needed I think.

XxX

She flexes the fingers in her right hand and winces when she can almost hear the bones creak. She hasn't realised, but she had been bunching up part of Chris's shirt in an iron-tight fist for hours.

He stirs next to her.

Piper hasn't moved since she sat next to Chris this morning. Her joints are protesting but she won't let him wake up and see that she left first. Her guilt is eating away at her enough as it is.

It's gnawing at her, that this boy was right under their noses and they were too blind to see it.

Too caught up in their own problems. Too stupid.

His tiny nods, telling her he was her son, keep replaying in her head, over and over again. And the words Leo used to tell her of that moment in the kitchen. How he had to be close to death before he would admit who he was.

She hasn't cried today, but it's taken one hell of an effort.

She looks down at him. Piper may not have moved, but it had taken Chris all of half an hour to end up back where he started last night, flat on his side and fast asleep.

He's sort of curled in on himself and turned away from Piper, but in his sleep his back had ended up pressed hard against Piper's leg. It's alleviating some of the need she feels to be close and to check him.

The heat rolling off of him is still far too hot and she knows he still needs touch to battle the demonic heat, so she's hoping her presence has gone someway to helping.

He still refuses to be awake for more than 10 minutes. But he looks as though this sleep may actually be restful, even if he grimaces every now and then.

"Hi," her head whips around at the new voice in the room.

Leo is standing at the door, hovering around the entrance with a shaky smile on his face.

She stares at him and gives him the same shaky smile.

"Hi," she says back. It's a loaded hello and she isn't too sure how she feels about Leo right now.

She's had the past few hours to think about all sorts of things, including the uneasiness Chris carries when Leo is around and it has Piper wondering about the next few decades.

Leo is tentatively stepping into the room, eyes raking up and down Chris like a hawk.

'How's he doing?"

"Been out to it for a while," Piper responds. Her grip on his shirt tightens a little.

There is silence from Leo and he stays standing within arm's reach of the both of them. There is a stretch of empty time as they both stare at Chris. She thinks neither one of them were probably ready to be in the same room yet.

"I'm sorry," Leo says suddenly.

She raises an eyebrow at him.

"For everything. I'm sorry," he almost whispers.

"For Chris and for not telling you. And for whatever happens in the next 20 years that bought Chris here, I'm sorry." It's all spilling out of him at breakneck speed, like he can't hold it back.

She finds herself fighting back the stinging dampness in her eyes. She's sorry too, in so many ways and on so many levels. That fist tangled in Chris's shirt tightens even more.

She nods at Leo. "Me too," she says. They both know there is too much meaning in that sentence to fit into two words.

Piper watches as Leo puts a hand on Chris's shoulder. He stirs a little, curls even further in on himself. Leo's forehead develops a frown. Piper knows he can still feel the overwhelming heat too.

She can see the blue tinge of healing begin to pour from Leo's hands as they ghost across Chris's forehead. Her face carries a question and he responds with a small smile.

"No harm in trying," he says softly. He keeps healing.

His magic must be doing something because she can see that Leo is suddenly smiling down at those striking dark eyes, slowly blinking into consciousness for the first time in hours.

Leo squeezes Chris's shoulder, eyes travelling all over his face, checking everything.

"Hi," he says, low and gentle. There's surprise on his face and Piper knows he hadn't wanted to wake Chris up. Hadn't wanted him to have to be in the same room as them both just yet.

Chris's eyes are blinking slowly. His limbs are deathly still for too many moments and Piper's hand tightens.

He is murmuring back to Leo, eyes shutting for long seconds. Leo is still healing and Chris leans into his hands for just a second.

Piper can feel Chris push his back against her in an effort to move. She ignores how he freezes and then pulls away when he realises it's a person he is pushing against.

His eyes keep closing for too long before they reopen, soft movements going throughout his body. Piper's heart is jumping at the thought that he is still so injured. That he is still so slow and prone.

He's got his hands balling into fists around the blanket and looks like he's trying to sit up. He pushes just a little but can't quite get there.

She sees Leo hesitate for a second as he watches Chris struggle, but then he moves to put strong hands on either side of Chris's rib cage, gently pulling him up so he is leaning against the headboard.

Now that she can see his face properly, she can't help but see how those striking eyes still aren't as clear as usual. It doesn't stop them from bouncing from Piper to Leo with increasing speed.

She knows he can remember their conversation – both conversations - when the look of panic starts to crawl over his face. That look of hurt is back on his face and the fact that she can tell its there speaks volumes. She knows Chris is too worn to keep his face neutral like he has for so long around them.

He still looks curled in on himself and those slow blinks remain.

"How long was I asleep?" his voice sounds like its being scraped across gravel to get to them.

He isn't looking at either one of them.

"A while," Piper says. He looks at her then. Won't take his eyes off her face. She knows he is going over that conversation, replaying it in his head. Just like she is.

She still has her fist curled around part of his shirt, kept there in the hours of this rainy afternoon in an attempt to make some sense.

She uncurls the fist and grips his shoulder instead, giving him the most reassuring smile she can muster.

Leo sort of rescues her when he starts talking to Chris.

"It's a particularly nasty little trick from that demon," Leo says. "I've never seen it in person before."

"Must have hurt," he says softly, eyes still raking over Chris's face. "Must still hurt," he punctuates each word.

Chris looks at him with those not-quite-aware eyes and nods, grimacing.

"Yea," he breathes a long sigh. "Like you wouldn't believe." There's a smirk on his face but Piper doesn't really believe it.

She watches as Leo keeps looking him up and down. "The heat is sort of the mark of the attack," he says, filling the silence in the room." It makes you forget you're human all the while making you feel like you're going through hell."

Leo has a hand hovering over Chris and Piper feels the same desperate need to stay close, to check up on him.

Chris nods at them both. 'Yea, that sounds about right," he breathes out again, softly.

He swallows wordlessly as a grimace works its way across his face and his eyes are back to bouncing from Leo to Piper.

"Thanks," he spits out.

Both Leo and Piper raise an eyebrow.

"For being around. Taking away the heat."

And Piper understands he is thanking them for their physical presence, a hand or an arm giving him relief. Leo's snatches his hand out to grasp the shoulder that Piper isn't and for one long second that look of relief is back on Chris's face.

She thinks he must still be fairly out of it to be thanking them without a hint of irony.

"It helped," Chris says.

Those long slow blinks are back, and Chris looks like sleep is calling him.

Next thing Piper knows, she is throwing Leo a filthy look when he gently shakes Chris's shoulder.

"You should maybe try and stay awake Chris," Leo is practically whispering.

Chris's eyes keep up their long, slow blink but they don't fully close. He raises an eyebrow.

"I think it may help. You're getting better, but you need to fight it. You can't do that while you're asleep," Leo says.

Chris huffs out a small laugh but his eyes stay open. Piper finds herself raising an eyebrow at Leo. She's not sure staying awake is a great option, but this isn't normal and Leo knows more than she does.

"I'm sorry," Leo says again, looking at them both. "But it will help," he says.

They all fall into silence, Chris still taking those long slow blinks and Leo and Piper grasping at his shoulders.

"Wanna eat?" Piper finds herself saying.

Those dark eyes are back on her face again, searching it.

She thinks it might be the first time she has been able to read his face now that he doesn't have the awareness to hide it behind his mask. She swears someday soon she'll have the guts to ask him what the story is that she sees written all over it.

"Ok," he says. She looks at Leo, beginning the words of her question but she can see he's read her mind already.

Leo gives her this heartbreaking smile before he puts both hands on Chris and orbs them downstairs.

XxX

The blackness is fading. It's the first thing Chris thinks about.

The blackness is fading and now the awareness of how crap he feels is flooding back into his brain.

There's a blue tinge floating around his face and Chris begins to open his eyes. Next thing he knows the eyes that scream _safe_ are looking down at him. There is the tiniest hint of relief flowing from those blue tinges and he finds himself leaning into it for a split second.

He sucks in a breath because that awareness is spreading through his brain and reminding him who the _safe_ eyes belong to.

And he is remembering that they know. They know his big bad secret and he's not sure that he's ready to exist in a time when they know.

Chris can feel as Leo squeezes his shoulder, eyes travelling all over his face, checking everything.

"Hi," Leo says to him and his voice is so gentle it almost breaks Chris.

Chris's eyes are blinking slowly. He can't quite bring himself to move just yet.

He mutters angrily against how weak he feels and he can still feel Leo pumping healing magic into him. For the first time in days, it is actually giving him relief.

Chris has pushed his back against something solid and for a second all he registers is how it radiates comfort.

Seconds later, he registers that comfort comes with the _mom_ feeling and he finds himself rolling away because who the hell knows what that means.

He wants to sit up, to stop feeling so powerless in a roomful of people who have taken it from him in the past two days. His fists curl into the bed beneath him as he tries to move.

Not that he will ever say it, but Chris is a tiny bit grateful when he feels Leo wraps two strong hands around Chris's ribs and pull him up. For all the lack of dignity about it, it makes him feel that much more in control to be sitting up.

His eyes scrape from Leo to Piper and the look of concern across both of them drags away any feeling of control he might have gained since he opened his eyes.

It's their words that have done it. Leo's words in the kitchen when Chris spilled his guts and Piper's words in this room, in this same position hours ago that made him feel all of 14 year old all over again.

He has to stop thinking about those words, otherwise he'll never feel in control again.

"How long was I asleep?" he croaks.

He can't bring himself to look at either one of them.

"A while," Piper says. He looks at her then. Can't take his eyes off her face.

He feels his shirt loosen when her grip uncurls the fist. He flinches the tiniest bit when her hand moves to his shoulder because it is all screaming _mom_ at him, still.

Leo sort of rescues him when he starts talking to Chris.

"It's a particularly nasty little trick from that demon," Leo says. "I've never seen it in person before."

"Must have hurt," Leo says softly.

Chris swallows. Leo's eyes are boring into Chris and he feels like it's the inquisition.

"Must still hurt," Leo continues.

Chris looks at him with those not-quite-aware eyes and nods, grimacing.

"Yea," he breathes out. "Like you wouldn't believe."

Leo keeps talking and it actually works to make Chris feel better.

"The heat is sort of the mark of the attack," he says, filling the silence in the room." It makes you forget you're human all the while making you feel like you're going through hell."

Both Piper and Leo are hovering over him. It's not like he can go anywhere.

Chris nods at them both. 'Yea, that sounds about right," he breathes out softly.

He swallows wordlessly.

Chris looks from one to the other, long looks because that awareness hasn't quite brought back his self-preservation.

He feels the knot in his chest loosen just a little because that pain is fading. He looks at them both and for the first time since he fell back a few decades, he feels like it might all turn out okay.

"Thanks," he spits out.

He grins a little when both Leo and Piper raise an eyebrow.

"For being around. Taking away the heat."

He doesn't know much about what happened, but he knows it all hurt far less when the _mom_ hands and the _safe_ voice were around.

"It helped," Chris says.

There is silence and Chris remembers that he feels weary to the bone. A hand shakes his shoulder, just as he thinks the blankness might be calling him again.

"You should maybe try and stay awake Chris," Leo is practically whispering.

He is awake enough to raise an eyebrow.

"I think it may help. You can fight it while you're awake," Leo says.

Chris huffs out a small laugh but his eyes stay open.

"I'm sorry," Leo says again, looking at them both. "But it will help," he says.

They all fall into silence, Chris still taking those long slow blinks and Leo and Piper grasping at his shoulders.

"Wanna eat?" he hears Piper say.

Chris turns his eyes to Piper again. To the _mom_ feeling gripping his shoulder. He couldn't face food if he tried, but he nods to her anyway.

"Ok," he says.

Leo is orbing him downstairs in seconds and Chris doesn't know whether to be relieved or to dread the next few months.

_XX_

That is all for this chapter. Let me know if there is a particular way you would like to see it go or a scene you were desperately hoping for before I put this story out of its misery.


	17. Chapter 17

This is the final chapter. I don't think I can squeeze anymore out of the hopes I originally had for this story. Hopefully you all like the ending and if not, liked the story in between.

This short (but sweet) chapter is very Piper-light, but my focus was always the Chris and Leo relationship and I really wanted to do that justice.

I've been wracking my brains for a while, but I just could not come up with a fitting Piper or Leo POV to include in this chapter. If it does strike me, I'll include it as an epilogue, but I am happy with how this ends for all three characters. I'm sure there's another scene between Piper and Chris that could really finish it, but my brain refuses to create it yet.

There have also been a few questions about where this story fits in the plotline. I envisioned it starts close to the episode where Bianca died, but the actual story spans over a week or two at the most. Hence, I've ignored (pretty badly) the order some things happened in the show to do with this what I wanted. Let's pretend it all fits in nicely.

Thank you all for the kind reviews and for sticking with the story over the ridiculous amount of time it took me to finish. I wrote it in spare minutes between some major life changes, so I'm glad to see the completed status if only for myself.

XxxX

The time starts passing in seconds.

Chris is sure he's never felt each of his own heartbeats like he can in these seconds.

They're rattling in his chest so loudly he would bet money that Leo and Piper can hear them too.

Not that he's sure, because he hasn't been able to look up or open his mouth since he first sat down at the kitchen bench.

He's gotten his way through a glass of juice and a bite of a sandwich without ever taking his eyes off the bench in front of him.

Chris sighs and moves a hand to his chest to rub it, because every muscle in his body is still creaking in pain.

His head might be clearer and he doesn't feel like a demon is moving around in it anymore, but he still feels like hell. Every single one of his muscles is one wrong move away from not working.

There's this tired ache to his bones that has his guard_ still_ down to the ground and he feels wide open.

And that's why he won't look up. It's hard enough when he has his guards. It's way too hard in this moment, with this pain.

He can almost feel Leo and Piper's eyes scraping over him, but he'll be damned if he lets them know that he knows.

He's so busy staring at the grain of the bench that it takes him by surprise when a hand, wrapped with blue tinges of healing magic, grasps his shoulder. He looks up at the face attached to the hand before he remembers his no eye contact rule and swiftly looks down again.

Those eyes are searching for him again but he refuses.

Chris clears his throat. Wants to say something. He still doesn't have the words though. It all feels too small, too meaningless. It all has, every day since he first arrived in this time.

"Why?" Leo's voice drifts towards him. It still has that low, gently quality from the past few days. It makes Chris feel like they're all afraid he'll bolt if their voices get too loud.

He supposed it is a little bit like that.

"Why what?" he says. His voice is low and grumbled, but it's there.

"Why did you come back?"

Minutes pass before he speaks again. He notices the hesitation to Leo's question and he realises he can't take this conversation back now.

"You know why," he says, eyes still fixed to the bench. He doesn't want to relive that conversation about Wyatt. He remembers how it ended the first time.

"Yeah, but why you?"

This time it's Piper that speaks. He wonders whether it's an accusation but he sneaks a look at her face and he knows the question for what it really is. Why both her sons? Why is it always her family?

He smiles tightly.

"I was the best choice," he says.

"The only one, really."

They all fall back into silence. He's surprised they aren't pressing for more, but he knows he still looks like he'll shatter if they push too hard. He also knows that conversation isn't over.

More minutes pass. Again, it's Leo that breaks it.

"We don't really get on, do we?" the whitelighter asks rapidly. Both he and Piper are trained on Chris, waiting for a response.

Chris almost laughs at the understatement, but he holds back for this version of Leo. For future Leo, he definitely would have laughed, but for this Leo? Chris feels like he owes this Leo a break.

He pauses before he decides to hell with it. He'll be honest.

"No," he says.

Leo stares at Chris as more minutes pass.

"When did you stop calling me dad?" Leo asks rapidly again, like the questions have been bottled up for days.

Chris looks up in surprise.

"I've known you for a while now Chris, enough to know I must have been an arsehole of a dad," Leo continues.

"You've never once came close to slipping up with me and calling me dad," Leo continues. "Not once."

"I'd like to think if I was any kind of father, you would never have been able to come here without slipping up." Leo's eyes are piercing.

Chris almost slaps himself as he realised he had forgotten how attentive Leo is.

"I was 14," he finds himself saying. The honesty is spilling out of him.

Involuntarily, he finds himself looking at Piper. He meets her eyes and looks down.

"Stuff happened," he says. His voice almost catches, but then it doesn't because it's been a long time since he was 14 and there is no version of Leo that can drag him back there.

He thinks they might get what 'stuff' means because they're suddenly standing right next to each other and a step closer to him.

Leo grasps Chris's shoulder with a strong hand, and for a second all he has is an overwhelming feeling of _safe_.

Leo's voice reaches Chris and the hand on his shoulder squeezes tight.

"I hope we can help you change that," Leo states. It's simple and loaded.

There's a beat of silence between the three of them. Chris starts thinking about what this conversation means, and whether the words mom and dad might start working their way back into his vocabulary.

He tunes back in as Piper starts murmuring about rooms and moving to the manor and saving Wyatt and meals at a table with family and Chris finds himself smiling.

She grasps the shoulder that Leo isn't and his heart soars.

The rational part of him is pleased because his mission to stop Wyatt will be so much clearer now.

But the Halliwell part of him? The part that still wants his mom and dad? That part is nothing less than ecstatic, because now he has the _safe_ hands and the _mom_ voice telling him he can come home.

Even if it is a couple of decades too early.

_Fin_.


End file.
